Background Articles

A Pictou County farmer reports that many crops have failed after an irrigation pond and well dried up amid a prolonged dry spell, costing producers thousands in lost sales.

A UNBC study finds glaciers feeding the Slave River watershed are melting twice as fast as a decade ago, contributing to record low water levels in Northwest Territories rivers, while GNWT officials expect short-term stability from snowmelt and summer rains.

British Columbia’s March snowpack averaged just 79 percent of normal, up from 63 percent a year ago but still low enough to raise the province’s drought risk for spring and summer.

A Unesco report warns that unprecedented glacier melt driven by the climate crisis threatens the food and water supply for two billion people worldwide, with major impacts on irrigated agriculture and mountain communities.