Water Challenges
01.
Sea-level rise/saltwater intrusion
02.
Coastal erosion
03.
Storm surges that result in flooding
04.
Loss of biodiversity/coastal ecosystems
Spotlight
A must-read report on climate change in Prince Edward Island:
(1) A Climate Change Action Plan for Prince Edward Island. 2018-2023. (2018). Government of Prince Edward Island.
- Focuses on adaptation, reducing or adjusting to the impacts of climate change and mitigation, reducing provincial GHG emissions and increasing carbon sequestration and storage
(2) Prince Edward Island Climate Change Adaptation Recommendations Report. (2017). University of Prince Edward Island
- The report focuses solely on climate change adaptation, and recommends 97 adaptation actions to address climate change impacts.
Researcher Profile
Dr. Adam Fenech
Director, University of Prince Edward Island Climate Lab
Dr. Fenech has worked extensively in the area of climate change since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change First Assessment Report in 1988. He has edited 8 books on climate change, most recently on Global Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainability in the Middle East. Dr. Fenech has worked for Harvard University researching the history of the science/policy interfaces of climate change.
Dr. Fenech has represented Canada at international climate negotiating sessions; written climate policy speeches for Canadian Environment Ministers; and authored Canadian reports on climate change to the United Nations. Dr. Fenech has taught at the University of Toronto as well as the Smithsonian Institution for over 25 years, and lectures regularly at universities across Canada and around the world. Dr. Fenech shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He is presently the Director of the University of Prince Edward Island’s Climate Research Lab that conducts research on the vulnerability, impacts and adaptation to climate change, where his virtual reality depiction of sea level rise has won international awards including one from MIT for communicating coastal science. He maintains the largest fleet of drones at a Canadian university including the largest drone in the country with a four meter wingspan. As a movie producer of PEI Climate Stories, a new series of short videos exploring the impacts of climate change on Prince Edward Island and the adaptation strategies being implemented by Prince Edward Islanders, Fenech’s films have been accepted to the Charlottetown Film Festival, the SIFF – Switzerland International Film Festival, and was a semi-finalist at the Better Cities Film Festival. Fenech was featured in 2022 as one of the Inspiring Canadians: Forty Brilliant Canadians and Their Visions for the Nation by Mark Bulgutch.
Dr. Fenech has published in the areas of climate change adaptation science, climate change impacts, ecosystem changes and natural capital. He has edited special issues of peer‐reviewed journals and books on the topics of climate change impacts and adaptation science, ecosystem monitoring and natural capital. Some recent publications are:
X. Wang, J. Guo, A. Fenech and A. Farooque. Accepted. Future Climate Projections for Eastern Canada. In Climate Dynamics.
S. Dietz and S. Arnold with et al including A. Fenech. 2021. Atlantic Provinces. In F. Warren, N. Lulham, N. and D. Lemmen (ed.). Canada in a changing climate: regional perspectives report. 2021. p. 1‐85. https://doi.org/10.4095/329324
D. Jardine, X. Wang and A. Fenech. 2021. Highwater Mark Collection after Post Tropical Storm Dorian and Implications for Prince Edward Island, Canada. In Water 2021, 13(22), 3201; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13223201.
X. Wang, A. Yang, A. Fenech and H. Cheng. 2021. Environmental Systems Modelling and Analysis under Changing Conditions. In Mathematical Problems in Engineering, vol. 2021, Article ID 9780860, 2 pages, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9780860. 8
H. Connor, L. Brinklow and A. Fenech. 2020. “An icy layer of isolation: Prince Edward Island’s seabound particularity” in Shima v14 n1, p.18.
Wang, X., Kingsland, G., Poudel, D., & Fenech, A. 2019. Urban flood prediction under heavy precipitation. Journal of Hydrology, 577, 123984.
Fenech, A., N. Hedley, A. Chen and A. Clark. 2017. Building a Tool for Visualizing the Impacts of Climate Change on Prince Edward Island, Canada. In Leal Filho, W. et al. (eds). Climate Adaptation in North America. Springer Science+Business Media LLC. New York, NY, USA.
