Canada’s North is at the forefront of climate change and its effects can be seen with the naked eye on a daily basis, Bob McLeod said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Warmer temperatures have led to a host of changes, including a shifting tree line, problems with the territory’s winter road network and significant impacts on the caribou population, McLeod said.
“I could go on and on,” he said. “We have permafrost … that’s melting. It is affecting our buildings and our housing so we have to change our building techniques.”
Climate change has also contributed to the disappearance of certain fish species, McLeod noted. “We are seeing wildlife species foreign to this area … moving further north from the south like cougar and whitetail deer.”