But with northern Canada warming about three times as fast as the rest of the world, climate change threatens the permanence of vast stretches of this frozen ground and the ecosystems and communities it supports. For the people living in the subarctic Dehcho region of the Northwest Territories, the changes have been stark. “Our Elders definitely noticed a real change in how things look,” Dehcho First Nations Grand Chief Gladys Norwegian told The Narwhal in an interview. “They don’t have to be scientists to know, they just feel it and see it.” While the impacts are felt most acutely in the North, permafrost thaw has implications for the global climate as well.
Share In Canada s North, landscapes such as caribou habitat found in Yukon s Tombstone Territorial Park, seen here, are increasingly at risk of dramatic change as permafrost melts. Scientists are now researching what s known as the permafrost carbon feedback loop, in which melting permafrost releases greenhouse gases that further amplify climate change. Photo: Jimmy Thomson / The Narwhal
In-Depth
Fighting the feedback loop: why scientists are sounding the alarm on Canada’s melting permafrost
Nearly half of Canada’s land mass lies above permafrost. As it thaws, greenhouse gases stored for centuries in the frozen ground are released and once-stable land is susceptible to collapse
The international wildlife trade is directly responsible for the emergence and spread of pandemic disease, and according to a new report from World Animal Protection, many Canadians have participated in one way or another.
“We’re maybe not as big a player as the U.S. and other countries,” said Melissa Matlow, campaign director of World Animal Protection Canada, “but for our population size, (we play) an important role, and I think many people would be shocked to know the level and volume of the wildlife trade.”
The pandemic has heightened awareness of live animal markets in East and Southeast Asia where the COVID-19 virus is thought to have originated. But animals are exchanged globally by several industries closer to home, often without adequate oversight. According to the February report “Trading Animals and Diseases: Canada’s Role in the Global Commercial Wildlife Trade,” a staggering 320,081 animals were imported into Canada in 2019 alone, destined for zoos, use
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