7 www.georgianbay.ca GBA UPDATE Summer 2023 Photo: Georgian Bay Biosphere through and can expect more extreme variations in water levels. Subtle at first, the impacts of climate change are profound and pervasive. Fifty years of data showing warming summer surface water temperatures and reduced ice cover are two indicators that underscore the urgency of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and finding ways to adapt to an uncertain future that includes more frequent and more severe storms, and unpredictable periods of drought and fire, precipitation, and flooding. Fundamentally, the State of the Bay program helps to communicate science to the public and to decision-makers and is a way to showcase the important work of partners. Over the past several years, it has profiled not just the work of provincial, federal, and bi-national agencies and research labs, but it has also shared the community-based work of First Nations, non-profit organizations, and citizen science programs. Stories about stewardship action and the Anishinaabek ethics of caretaking, responsibility, and reciprocity are communicated throughout. The program will develop new high school curriculum materials for teachers, a two-day community conference to deepen cross-cultural understandings of ecosystem change, and the collective work to restore and protect. While invasive species, shoreline development, water contamination, and climate change create mounting pressures, the high species biodiversity and habitat values attributed to eastern Georgian Bay underscore the UNESCO Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere as an important place for continued research, stewardship, and learning. The State of the Bay reminds us that we all play a role in the future of Georgian Bay. Photo: Olivia Fines
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDA3MzU4