Supporting Climate Change Adaptation in the Yukon
New Data Basin Gateway Launched
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada is dedicated to saving wildlife and wild places in Canada through science, conservation action, and inspiring people to value nature. Climate change is one of many factors negatively impacting wild places worldwide, and these impacts are particularly acute at northern latitudes. In response, WCS Canada recently announced a new website, YukonClimateChange.ca, which focuses on providing new tools to aid in land use planning throughout the Yukon with respect to climate change adaptation.
CBI and WCS Canada have been collaborating to bring valuable new species-focused datasets into a flexible, easy-to-use online mapping system open to everyone. WCS Canada researchers have been modeling new species distributions based on a changing climate across the Yukon while CBI has been developing the online mapping resource to support this ongoing work. The mapping support has taken the form of our newest Data Basin Gateway, which is the only online mapping resource of its kind serving this extremely important region of North America. The mapped data, modeling results, and collaborative features provided in the Gateway will be instrumental in providing the means for all interested participants to contribute to a plan that successfully protects the ecological health of this largely intact territory while simultaneously supporting the social wellbeing for the people by focusing more on the landscape of tomorrow rather than the landscape of today. Over the coming months, WCS Canada will be adding more content specific to the Yukon, and we hope the site will make an important contribution for saving this extraordinary place rich with so many natural and social values.