The territorial government and NWT communities are already dealing with the effects of a warming climate, but the future holds more challenges still.

The GNWT has a three-pronged approach to dealing with climate change's effects on its own infrastructure, as well as the overall environment of the territory, according to Kevin McLeod, assistant deputy minister of asset management for the Department of Infrastructure.

"First is we're monitoring, recording and reporting on every bit of infrastructure we have right now," said McLeod. "So we know the start state and we were watching every aspect of it. That's our culverts, our bridges, our runways, our roads, our buildings, our fuel tanks, our marine infrastructureSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½”everything that we own."

With that, McLeod says the department is monitoring the slightest changes.
The second part of the strategy, he says, is working with scientists, think tanks and experts worldwide to access and invite research to determine what exactly is happening.
McLeod said the department has observed higher winds, more prevalent forest fires, freezing rain at abnormal times of the year, melting happening where it didn't before, and then colder temperatures at odd times.

"So it's a big, huge melting pot of factors that we're trying to research in terms of what's going on and what are some mitigation or adaptation strategies that we can find," he said.
The third aspect of the strategy is to re-examine the territory's design criteria, not only for its own projects but to perhaps eventually adapt building codes.

The heights of bridges, sizes of culverts, strength of beams, thicknesses of concreteSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½”"All those things," says McLeod, "we're peeling all that back and re-evaluating it all to make it as resilient as possible."

He said this discussion is also happening nationally and worldwide, in government and in industry.

"A lot of our criteria is we build structures for 50, 75 or 100 years. (Conditions were) a given fact many years ago but now we're trying to predict what 50, 75 and 100 years look like to us and that's where we are getting into a problem because we don't know."

One of these areas of concern is the Dempster Highway, where landslides caused by thawing permafrost haven't yet collided with road infrastructure but may in the future.

McLeod says staff, including permafrost scientist Dr. Steve Kokelj, are monitoring the situation closely and trying to predict what sections, bridges and culverts are at risk and where backups might need to be put in place.

Fort McPherson, which sits along the highway, is seeing its own effects from a warming climate.

Senior administrative officer Bill Buckle stated the municipality is dealing with issues such as changes in the ground's active layer, which freezes in the winter then thaws in the summer, frost heaves, the thaw of permafrost, and increased runoff.

The big issue, though, is the stability of the Peel River's bank, which will have drastic effects on planning in the community's future.

Forecast erosion will put currently-existing buildings and infrastructure at risk of being caught up in landslides.

See also News North's coverage of Dr. Kokelj work on Banks Island.