Nunavut Climate Change Partnership Workshop, February 15-16, 2011

Abstract

The Nunavut Climate Change Partnership was initiated in 2006 between the Government of Nunavut, the Canadian Institute of Planners, Natural Resources Canada and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. This partnership was focused on helping Nunavut communities adapt to climate change and increasing adaptive capacity and climate change knowledge in the territory. Specifically, the goals of the Nunavut Climate Change Partnership were to: 1) create scientific information that is regionally and locally targeted to help communities adapt to climate change, 2) build capacity for climate change adaptation planning within the Government of Nunavut and in Nunavut communities, and 3) develop tools to collect, publish, share and communicate climate change adaptation knowledge across Nunavut and beyond. Work through this partnership was conducted in the communities of Clyde River, Hall Beach, Iqaluit, Arviat, Whale Cove, Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk. A workshop was held in Iqaluit February 15-16, 2011 to report back on all Nunavut Climate Change Partnership activities and outputs, explore new opportunities and discuss lessons learned. Speakers and participants from across Canada including Nunavut communities, governments, scientific, policy and planning organizations and universities participated in the workshop. On February 15th results from scientists and government officials were presented on climate change geoscience research, community climate change adaptation planning work and opportunities for new work. On February 16th, participants were asked to focus their attention on two key themes: 1) what research, information and climate change adaptation resources will be needed in the future (a needs assessment) and 2) what lessons can be learned from the current partnership that would enable research and planning to be undertaken more effectively (lessons learned). In total nearly 100 people participated in this workshop. This report provides a summary from the workshop.