Opening Statement to News Conference—Climate Change in the Northwest Territories

Climate Change in the Northwest Territories Opening Statement to News Conference

Glenn Wheeler, Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada—18 October 2017

I am pleased to be in Yellowknife today to discuss our Report on Climate Change in the Northwest Territories that was tabled by the Speaker of the Assembly this afternoon.

In this audit, we examined the efforts of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Infrastructure to meet the territory’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change impacts.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has said that the impact of climate change on the Northwest Territories is significant and widespread. It has reported that in the last 50 years, the territory’s climate has warmed three to four times faster than the global average.

Climate change affects the land, wildlife, and critical infrastructure. It also affects people, including their food and fuel security, their ability to travel in and out of their communities, and their traditional way of life.

Overall, our audit found that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources did not provide the leadership that the territory required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change impacts.

For the past 10 years, the Department has repeatedly committed to creating a territorial climate change adaptation strategy. We found that the Department had not developed one, and as a result, had not set out clear and specific adaptation priorities to address climate change risks facing the Northwest Territories.

Instead, the Department focused on territorial greenhouse gas emission strategies, but these strategies lacked meaningful targets and did not include concrete actions for major emitters.

The Department also did not meet its commitment to provide other departments or communities with easy access to the information they needed to adapt to climate change impacts.

We noted that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources failed to correct long-standing deficiencies in its climate change leadership. Specifically, it did not determine the resources or authority it needed to carry out its leadership responsibilities or establish a network to support action on climate change.

In the absence of effective departmental leadership, other territorial departments and communities pursued their own adaptation efforts. The result was a piecemeal approach to adaptation, and the government did not know whether the territory was doing enough to adapt to climate change impacts or if the areas of greatest risk were being addressed.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources needs to exercise its leadership role and set clear and specific adaptation priorities to address climate change risks facing the Northwest Territories.

In this audit, we also examined specific adaptation efforts undertaken by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Infrastructure. We found that both departments did not follow through on many of the specific actions they determined were necessary to safeguard people, wildlife, and infrastructure from the impacts of climate change.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources set out management plans to protect some vulnerable wildlife, like certain caribou species. However, it did not have an overall adaptation plan for wildlife to ensure that the greatest risks were being addressed. Where the Department had identified necessary actions for vulnerable species, there were gaps in monitoring, and some species that were not monitored at all.

The Department of Infrastructure identified climate change risks to public buildings and roads that could cause structural damage or failure, and established practices to protect public infrastructure from these risks.

We found that the Department carried out these practices for roads in most cases, but not for public buildings. For example, the Department often did not inspect and clear snow from the roofs of buildings—including some prone to heavy snow accumulation. It also did not remove snow from building foundations to prevent permafrost thaw and possible structural problems.

This is important as residents rely on these departments to uphold their commitments to manage and adapt to the impacts of climate change—some of which have the potential to be severe and costly.

We made eight recommendations to help the two departments meet their climate change commitments and better adapt to the impacts of climate change. Both departments have agreed to implement our recommendations.

This concludes my opening statement. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.