Haida Gwaii: Exhibit one for Al Gore’s next movie

A stretch of Graham Island from Tlell to Masset is said to be one of the most sensitive areas in Canada at risk to the ravages of Global warming.

Every year one to three metres of the coastline there erodes into the ocean, a disturbing trend that will require governments of all levels to develop some kind of action plan to counter the forces of nature or begin to plan for the eventual disappearance of the fabled islands.

Things even get worse for the Charlotte’s when you examine the rising sea levels around the Islands, which have risen 16 centimetres per century, twice the pace of what is happening around Victoria.

While it’s probably a fair amount of time before we have to break out the water wings and inflatable boats to get around, it is a well documented example of how the world’s climate is impacting the land and lives of Canadians.

The Daily News featured all the details on the front page of Monday’s paper.

GLOBAL WARMING IS GIVING ISLANDS THAT SINKING FEELING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Pages one and five

The United States federal government is starting to look at how it will help the most vulnerable Alaskan communities deal with the impact of rising oceans. Yet the ocean isn't encroaching nearly as quickly on Alaska's most vulnerable places compared to some communities on the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The U.S. Senate Disaster Recovery Subcommittee recently visited Anchorage and heard how the First Nation village of Kivalina, located on the southern tip of an eight-mile long barrier reef, is slowly losing its battle against the ocean. Plans have been considered to relocate the village.
"In Alaska, we have severe storms that have taken a significant toll on many of our coastal villages," said Senator Ted Stevens (R. Alaska.)

Representatives from the community of Kivalina testified before the Senate subcommittee, saying that although it has put a sea wall in place, it does not have the financial resources to continue its fight and estimates are it will have relocate in the next 10 to 15 years.

However, in a 2006 study published in the Journal of Coastal Research, notes that erosion is eating away at the northern portion of the Queen Charlotte Islands even more quickly than in Kivalina.

Ian Walker, a University of Victoria geographer, noted Graham Island, which is part of the Queen Charlotte Islands, is one of the country's most vulnerable areas.

"Due to a macro tidal range, erodible sentiments, frequent storm surges and an energetic wave climate, the shoreline of northeast Graham Island, from Tlell to Masset, ranks among the most highly sensitive in Canada," said Walker, whose team found that the coastline is eroding at a rate of one to three metres per year.

This is even faster than the rate faced by Kivalina, which has lost 19 metres in the last 50 years or a little less than half a metre per year.

Meanwhile, sea levels around the Queen Charlotte Islands are rising 16 centimetres per century, twice as fast as sea levels around Victoria and during extreme storms, sea levels rise at more than twice this rate.

"Despite extreme physical sensitivity of this environment, little is known about the resilience and adaptive capacity of communities on this coast to climate change and sea level rise," said Walker.

Walker and his team have completed more than 200 door-to-door surveys on the islands about the communities' ability to adapt.

Walker is currently wrapping up a three-year study on the effects of coastal erosion on the Queen Charlotte Islands, including an assessment of the strengths of the communities to handle the impacts of rising sea levels.

Neither the United States nor Canada have agencies designated or plans in place to deal with the impact of climate change on communities that are vulnerable to rising sea levels and soil erosion caused by increased storms.

The UN's top climate scientists are expected to present a landmark report on global warming, including a a summary version for policymakers, next Saturday.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, has warned of dire consequences unless rising temperatures caused by greenhouse gases are held in check.

Even as it basks in the limelight of the Nobel Prize, the IPCC has been criticized for being too conservative in the face of mounting evidence of a global crisis.

"Even the gloomiest of the IPCC predictions underestimate the severity of climate change," said British scientist James Lovelock, who blames the consensus rule that governs IPCC proceedings for enabling a handful of governments to downplay "forthright and inconvenient forecasts" made by experts.