Successful adaptation assumes the availability of appropriate information for groups potentially impacted by climate change. This research examines information available to help farmers in the Canadian Prairies to adapt, with focus on information related to soil and water conservation practices, such as preserving wetlands and maintaining shelterbelts and groundcover, considered particularly important for this region. Results of 28 semi-structured interviews carried out with producers in two Prairie provinces, Alberta and Manitoba, revealed that information regarding soil and water conservation practices comes from a variety of sources. These included industry, government, producer and conservation organizations, social sources of information and personal experience, and media. Producers were more open to new practices when they could learn them through observation, trials, and two-way dialogue. There appears to be a general lack of producer organization involvement, and dearth of government information, direction, and coordination for climate change adaptation. Information from government and producer organizations can be important for the co-production of knowledge that can lead to successful adaptation.
Under the Canadian Province of Alberta's Climate Change Strategy, offset credits are one of four compliance mechanisms that large greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters can use to meet their mandatory emissions intensity reduction target. Although offset credit purchases account for 55% of all GHG reductions by regulated emitters, only one energy efficiency offset project has been registered and verified in the Alberta-based Offset Credit System. Barriers to energy efficiency offset project development include: lack of historical energy monitoring, onerous project measurement requirements, complications with establishing ownership and limited offset volume creation. It is possible to overcome these barriers while maintaining the integrity of an emission reduction claim. By allowing for overly conservative quantification methods, the precision, frequency and duration of measurement and monitoring could be reduced. Alternative measuring and monitoring techniques include: data extrapolation, utilization of equipment output ratings and conservative calibration of models. While these alternative techniques would increase flexibility with regard to data collection requirements, such protocol changes would not result in increased project development until Alberta Environment's programme accuracy requirements are addressed. Faced with the administrative burden of an increasingly complex offset system, as well as criticism from the provincial Auditor General, Alberta Environment has upheld the offset programme's accuracy requirements and has pursued the implementation of policies that will create further barriers to the development of energy efficiency offset projects.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.