Mitigating the Impact of Climate Change and Shipping in the Arctic: Uottawa Killam Fellow ...

"Most Canadians don't realize that 40% of our country's landmass is considered Arctic and that it's one of the most vulnerable places in the world to climate change," says Jackie Dawson, a professor at the University of Ottawa and the recipient of a Canada Research Chair in Human and Policy Dimensions of Climate Change fellowship.

She's referring to the fact that Arctic shipping has more than tripled since 1990, and is expected to increase exponentially as sea ice continues to melt, making waterways easier to navigate, reports the University of Ottawa.

Dawson's new project, Inuit Qaujisrnirmut Pilirijjutit (Knowledge on Artic Shipping Risks), will assess the impact of increased ship traffic on the surrounding marine mammal and human populations, predict future conditions, and identify risk mitigation strategies.

"The only way to solve a major problem like climate change is to bring together diverse people, diverse perspectives, diverse cultures, and diverse sciences," Dawson says in a press release.

"That's where the magic is."

As part of her project, which has been funded through the National Killam Program, Dawson will use community-based samples to compare historical ship traffic to changing sea ice conditions, study the impact of environmental pollutants from ships, including fuel oil and ship

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