Research projects and publications

Better adaptation requires understanding. A good understanding requires observation. AVATIVUT educational activities encourage young people to observe their environment and help them understand the impact of climate change.

This project helped to engage and empower community members in a participatory process on climate change adaptation It also helped to recognize the importance of interactions between different knowledge systems focussing on solutions, and highlights the need to adopt a multidisciplinary and holistic approach

This new reference tool brings together and summarizes scientific advances on probable changes in hydroclimatic hazards and can be used for safer coastal planning and development and anticipation of potential risks.

Street repairs are now done in a more integrated manner within the Québec City municipal administration. The greening experiments in Saint-Roch continue to mobilize residents and have led to the adoption of a broader approach, including a community garden, workshops, etc.

The literature analysis helps to explain a certain propensity to focus on technological solutions such as the electrification of individual transportation and residential solar energy conversion to mitigate the impacts of urban sprawl.

This project will improve the dissemination of available climate change adaptation resources for the municipal sector. It will also help guide efforts for the development of resources relating to issues that are less well addressed by existing resources.

Adaptation organizations now have an up-to-date portrait of the links between them, ready to be used to further their understanding of each other’s activities, to clarify their position for strategic planning purposes, and to identify allies and competitors as part of their regular activities.

AQUARISC provides the research community; climate change stakeholders working in the fields of land use planning, natural disaster management and insurance; and municipal, provincial and federal authorities with access to a comprehensive data collection on flood and low-flow events that took place in the watersheds of a pilot area.

The approach adopted, namely the co-construction of an adaptation strategy at the regional level and the uptake of vulnerability analysis tools by stakeholders, will foster the development of adaptation to climate change and the resilience of the communities concerned.

The SQI will adopt an action plan to correct the vulnerabilities identified by the project and to adapt its building stock. This plan will contain specific projects as well as changes to asset maintenance and preventive maintenance programs.

The cities will benefit from an improved process for the design and implementation of future GSI. The results of this project will enhance knowledge about the feasibility of installing GSI, as well as the performance of the pilot infrastructures.

The co-construction of a strategy for the management of climate change at the municipal services level will promote the development of climate change adaptation, the reduction of GHG emissions and the resilience of the communities concerned.

The maps produced can be used as a tool for raising awareness of the issue of coastal squeeze among government decision-makers (federal, provincial and municipal), coastal communities and the general population.

The results of this action research, together with innovation and political will, will help the MRC to effectively review its governance framework and thus be less affected by the impacts and consequences of climate change.

The descriptive and statistical tools available under IcePAC provide users with information on ice conditions and allow them to better understand the temporal and spatial evolution of sea ice. This information can help users to protect against risks to ships and maritime infrastructure.

The main impact of the Climate Lab is to question and integrate climate change adaptation into concrete urban planning and governance practices.

Support municipalities and stakeholders in their efforts to improve the long-term management of coastal development and assets and to justify certain preventive interventions.

This project aims to study the benefits of a prospective, collaborative approach within two supramunicipal bodies in Quebec that are engaged in a collective adaptation process, to see if it can promote broad-based engagement in a more transformational, systemic kind of adaptation.

This project will develop a predictive model of the risk of ice jams for a representative sample of southern Quebec watersheds in the context of climate change.

The project identified concrete examples of uses for the Agroclimatic Atlas, thereby introducing it to a larger number of stakeholders and promoting its use.

The knowledge resulting from this project will enable the development or revision of planning and action tools for decision makers in order to assist the crop protection sector to adapt to climate change.

A better understanding of the risks of flower frost damage and water stress in blueberry fields and the effect of climate change on these risks, as well as target profitability thresholds to be reached through yield increases to justify investing in an irrigation system

The RADEAU 1 and 2 projects exploited and structured the large quantity of existing data and developed new data in order to characterize the water balance of the regions under study in current and future climates, and thus help inform the government, regional actors and other studies on water management.

This project will inform various institutions about the contribution of UA to food security, food justice, individual and collective resilience with regard to food and adaptation to climate change in the Montréal metropolitan area.

A better understanding of the contribution of AEPs and agroforestry systems to wildlife movement in agricultural environments allows for the prioritization of land-use planning actions to promote their sustainability and effectiveness. In a changing context, the use of both natural and social science approaches is recommended to promote the adoption and sustainability of AEPs and agroforestry systems in agricultural areas.

Raising awareness among key fisheries stakeholders of the expected effects of global ocean changes on northern shrimp populations and fisheries based on new, robust findings.

Identification of key factors and elements favouring the restoration of riparian wetlands and their services in agricultural environments.

Producers and agricultural stakeholders will be better equipped to understand the impacts of climate change on land use and its effects on soil health and vulnerability to degradation.

This project will provide knowledge to better adaptation strategies for production and management to ensure the sustainability of the important aquaculture industry and recreational tourism activities that depend on brook trout.

This project studies the influence of weather conditions on the production, trade and prices of fruits and vegetables in Quebec. It also analyzes household demand for these products and generates projections on future supply and consumption in the context of climate change.

The examples and lessons learned from the case studies will help local, provincial/state and federal policy makers in designing effective policy instruments and processes, and in improving existing ones, in such a way that they enable effective adaptation to climate change.

These documented case studies will help to disseminate and transfer information, engage decision makers and better recognize barriers to adaptation within the energy sector in order to overcome them.

This first Canadian portrait of the interactions between GHG mitigation and adaptation to climate change in the field of energy allows to educate policymakers and companies from the electricity sector about the complex interactions between mitigation efforts and adaptation to climate change

This study is particularly useful for energy policymakers concerned with energy production and distribution, including demand management, the upscaling of equipment, and energy efficiency programs allowing to reduce heat gain in buildings in order to mitigate the increase in air conditioning requirements.

The approaches developed will help guide strategy decisions made by industry partners (Hydro-Québec, Manitoba Hydro) and communities in sub-Arctic regions regarding wildfire risk management.

This project will help Canadian electricity providers such as Hydro-Québec, Manitoba Hydro and Ontario Power Generation to improve the long-term planning and reliability of wind power generation.

This approach will allow Canadian hydropower producers to better assess their exposure to persistent droughts while benefiting from a better understanding of the long-term hydrological variability in the production territory.

This project will provide hydropower producers with the robust scientific analyses to guide decision making in regards to climate change adaptations. The results will help determine whether the significance of recently observed floods is part of natural variability or if it is attributable to climate change, in which case, it may be relevant to adjust design criteria and management strategies accordingly.

Any stakeholder interested in hydroelectric asset valuation in the context of climate change now has access to a guide, validated by experts in the field, to help in carrying out rigorous assessments. The methods proposed in the Guidebook and the documented case studies will contribute to improving the consideration of climate change impacts in the valuation of hydroelectric assets.

This project provides a blueprint for Canadian dam managers to include climate change information into flood design values, and proposes solutions to address major sources of uncertainties. It offers a decision-making framework to assess and select adaptation options, mindful of dam managers’ operational context.

The mapping tool and model developed will better equip MFFP fisheries managers to evaluate salmonid habitats quality in Québec’s northern lakes and thereby prioritize actions to adapt their resource management measures according to the response of the fish habitats to climate change, based notably on changes in temperature and dissolved oxygen in the lakes.

The project results will help maintain the ecological integrity of the natural heritage of Northern Quebec by backing decisions and actions regarding land development and conservation in Nunavik with solid science that takes into account the effects of current and long-term climate change.

The results will help guide a sustainable approach to water management that takes into account the effects of climate change. It will also provide water supply managers in participating municipalities with tools for assessing vulnerabilities related to climate change, whether these are due to changes to their surface water withdrawal capacity or to changes in water needs during certain critical periods.

The research results will help to lay the foundations of a new culture of mitigation, adaptation and maritime and port innovation in Québec in the face of climate change by intensifying collaborations with the maritime and port industry.

The project has provided a better understanding of current and future spatial and temporal variability of salinity in the transition zone to help guide stakeholders in making sound decisions.

The knowledge developed by the project has provided riverside municipalities with a better understanding of the processes related to riverbank erosion, allowed them to identify areas that are vulnerable to this hazard, and provided a portrait of the possible evolution of flooding and erosion under climate change.

The exchanges and comparisons between Québec and Mexico will make it possible to conduct a comparative analysis in order to enrich the practices and tools for integrated water management adaptation available to Québec users.

Knowledge of changes in groundwater recharge will enable users to anticipate problems that could have a long-term effect on their water supply (quantity, quality, seasonal forecasts).

The project will make it possible to adapt dam management to climate change and the water needs of local communities.

This project improved adaptive capacity by developing expertise to mitigate permafrost instability under transportation infrastructure.