This project allows agronomists and engineers to have access to updated data to help them design hydro-agricultural works adapted to Quebec’s climatic and agricultural context, and to be more aware of the need for taking climate change into account in their practices thanks to a presentation on IDF curves under future climatic conditions given at various selected events.
The Agroclimatic Atlas is particularly useful for managing climate risks and opportunities; supporting decision making for long-term planning at the farm scale and for the entire agricultural sector; raising awareness among agricultural stakeholders about climate change and its impacts.
The application and adaptation of the HYDROTEL model to the boreal environment in Quebec will allow Hydro-Québec to better understand past and future hydrological behaviours in these watersheds, and improve the management of hydroelectric production.
This project provided one of the first forums for discussing the analysis of vulnerabilities and opportunities under climate change for forest ecosystem management in Quebec. In particular, we were able to pinpoint the vulnerabilities to consider when using FEM management, and produce a decision-making tool to help managers assess the costs of protecting allowable cut against fire activity, which will increase under climate change.
The results of this study have contributed to an improved understanding of the adaptive capacity of black spruce under climate change, which will help optimize the future management of this species; approaches to forest management that will help reduce climate change impacts on this species; and beginning the development of a tool for predicting the mechanical properties of wood based on the input of environmental data in order to test the impact of climate change on wood formation.
The research suggests that it would be wise to maintain a mix of species, given that they have different responses to the uncertainties in the water balance resulting from climate change. New forest productivity models for calculating timber volumes for harvesting would better capture the relationships between climate, location and growth.
One of the benefits for adaptation from this project is the better knowledge of the CC response and adaptive capacity of balsam fir and black spruce will lead to a deeper understanding of forests and their future productivity (and therefore the amount of wood available), which will guide the management of forest resource harvesting.
The project showed that some coastal communities are already feeling impacts associated with environmental changes. The documentation of some traditional Inuit knowledge was made possible as well as increasing community awareness of climate change issues; and the development of awareness activities for community youth.
The project documented the geomorphic response of the St. Lawrence tributaries to different hydrological conditions ranging from very low flows, to winter floods and very high floods.
This study made it possible to contribute to the reflections of various governmental and non-governmental stakeholders whose role is to encourage the incorporation of climate change adaptation to integrated watershed management in Québec.
