Thank you very much.
I want to begin by expressing extreme gratitude to all of you for taking on this really important topic. It's my absolute pleasure to be here today as a full professor and Canada research chair in human and policy dimensions of environmental change, as a lead author of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and as the current scientific director of ArcticNet.
Your committee's study is particularly important right now because Russia's invasion of Ukraine has meant that large portions of the global Arctic is now off-line for research activities. As a result, many European researchers are moving their research programs to the Canadian Arctic. Not only does this situation put pressure on Canada to ensure that we have proper measures in place to support this shift, but it also means that we have lost a substantial amount of data from the Russian Arctic region, thus decreasing our ability to accurately model climate futures and changing Arctic ecosystems.
Climate change in Canada's Arctic has and will continue to have significant consequences across local, regional, national and global scales. It is not an exaggeration to say that these changes have the potential to completely reshape and change the world as we know it. This is not just due to melting ice caps and glaciers and sea ice change, for example. It's also because of the cascading effects that these biophysical changes will have on society. For example, altered freshwater fluxes in the Arctic Ocean from melting ice will lead to variations in the Gulf Stream, which we expect will then lead to changes in the climate, not only locally but all the way to the mid-latitudes.
Conversely, the drought conditions that are being experienced near the Panama Canal and the horrific ship attacks that are occurring near the Suez Canal, combined with the reductions in sea ice that are occurring right now in the Canadian Arctic, mean that we are likely to see a coming shift in global maritime trade activity to newly opened Arctic sea routes, including, potentially, our Northwest Passage. Shipping is a trillion-dollar industry that supports 90% of everything moved globally, and a shift of this nature, although potentially economically fruitful in some regard, will also create a cascading set of risks related to geopolitics, the environment and indigenous culture.
These are just a few examples of the cascading effects of climate change. Of course, the question is, what do we do about it?
Over the past five years, Canada's status as a leader in Arctic science has grown internationally, especially with respect to indigenous peoples. Countries around the world, Arctic and non-Arctic alike, regularly look to Canada for guidance on not just what science is urgently needed, but also how science should be done. As a nation, we have made important improvements in this area through, for example, the Arctic's north2north program and the National Research Council's challenge programs and others, but there is a lot more to do.
At present, there are several competitive funding programs available to support indigenous engagement and leadership in science, but there remains a lack of training and capacity for local communities to meaningfully engage in these projects. It is important to point out that Canada is the only nation without an Arctic science strategy and that many non-Arctic nations, such as Italy, India, France and China, have Arctic science strategies. Although discussions are beginning about potentially establishing an Arctic science strategy, which is different from an Arctic strategy, we need this sooner rather than later. The lack of leadership in this space has already caused geopolitical and diplomatic challenges over this past year alone, and this is likely to continue.
One way that Canada is beginning to assert some leadership in this space is through the emerging Arctic pulse initiative, which is a Canadian-led international science mission that is planned between 2024 and 2030, with a major field season to occur in 2027. The initiative will link together existing projects and seeks to leverage additional resources to ensure that Canada can play a leading role in this space.
In conclusion, supporting a coordinated and connected Arctic science ecosystem in Canada that is underpinned by strong government supports, including a national Arctic science strategy that leads us, sets priorities and connects various institutions together, will be fundamentally important as we move forward. It will help us ensure globally relevant discoveries, economically vital innovations, self-determined approaches to sustainable development, strong international relationships among like-minded nations, indigenous reconciliation and urgent solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Canada and around the world.