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Economic Benefits of Northwest Passage Opening Not Without Costs: Researchers

Posted on: Monday, 13 August 2007, 21:18 CDT

By JONATHAN MONTPETIT

MONTREAL (CP) - While the federal government eyes the economic benefits of a shipping route through Canada's north, scientists are warning that the fabled passage cannot come about without serious costs to the environment.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ramped up efforts recently to assert Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, a potentially lucrative route to Asia that could open year-round thanks to global warming.

But researchers studying the country's Arctic lakes say ecosystems in the north are struggling to adapt to climate change.

"There might be some positives for some shipping companies for a short period of time, but there's certainly a lot of negatives too," said John Smol, a professor at Queen's University specializing in water and climate change.

Researchers at an international conference on water in Montreal are looking to Arctic lakes as important warning systems for the dangers that other bodies of water can face.

Histories of Arctic lakes suggest the rate of global warming has greatly accelerated in the last 150 years, and even more so recently.

Several studies presented at the conference conclude rising temperatures are now eating into the ice cover of lakes. A similar process must occur for ships to be able to cross through the Northwest Passage.

"Less ice cover changes the whole ecosystem," Smol said Monday during a break at the limnology conference. "There is less time for photosynthesis among other things."

Smol added that his research has shown that some smaller bodies of water are even drying up because of the warmer temperatures.

"The ice is now off long enough that the growing season has extended and with 24-hour sunlight, the water is evaporating," he said. "To go from a pond to dry land is a completely different ecosystem."

Widespread changes to northern ecosystems are already causing havoc for wildlife.

Northern geese, for example, have had their migration patterns disrupted and are polluting more lakes - which are a source of drinking water - with their droppings.

But researchers point out that ultimately it is those Inuit communities struggling to maintain traditional lifestyles that will be left to cope with radical changes to the Arctic's waterways.

"The thawing of the ice cover may bring about many economic advantages, but also changes to the Inuit communities," said Reinhard Pienitz, a professor in the geography department at Universite Laval.

"If there are huge tankers going through you will see drastic social and economic consequences for those who have been living there for thousands of years."

Smol remains optimistic that policies can be engineered to cut down the loss of ice cover.

"It's getting very late to make changes," he said. "There's still time, but its very late."

Pienitz believes the environmental forces acting upon the North parallel are a social change that may be less reversible.

"The move is northward, the North is booming, Iqaluit is becoming a huge city," he said. "There are big time changes happening fast and the Canadian public should be aware of it."

The conference, which gathers some 1,500 experts from around the world, runs until Saturday.

Source: Canadian Press

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