Mission

Ouranos’ mission is to acquire and develop knowledge on climate change, its impact and related socioeconomic and environmental vulnerabilities, in order to inform decision makers about probable climate trends and advise them on identifying, assessing, promoting and implementing local and regional adaptation strategies.

Vision

To make Ouranos a national and international leader in multidisciplinary scientific research on regional climatology and, with its partners, a leader in vulnerability and impact assessment and in developing strategies and decision-making tools for adapting to climate change, in a sustainable development context.

Context

A broad international scientific consensus has emerged to the effect that human activities are contributing to climate change and that global warming is accelerating.

Recent reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have endorsed this consensus.

Along with these changes, we are apparently seeing increasingly wider climate fluctuations and a higher frequency of some extreme weather events.

Major meteorological events that have struck Quebec in recent years, in particular the Saguenay flood in July 1996 and the ice storm in January 1998, have focused attention on society’s vulnerability to such disasters.

If they are to prepare appropriate adaptation strategies, decision makers must have accurate information on the nature, extent and rapidity of the expected regional impacts of climate change.

Specific needs

Knowledge regarding the climate, its impacts and the appropriate adaptation strategies.

To date:

• There are many climate models, mainly on a global scale.
• There are few regional models.
• The local repercussions of climate change are poorly understood.
• A variety of information is required, in many areas, and calls for a multidisciplinary approach that draws on expertise in:
  • climate science
  • an assessment of physical and human impacts
  • adaptation.

In this context, Ouranos can perform a very valuable role.