Assessing Climate Change Risk and Resilience in the Yukon
to increase given the pace of climate change impacts, and the persisting gaps in information.
Experts who work on environmental health noted that there are significant gaps in managing
invasive species and their impacts on biodiversity. Building capacity for prevention, early
detection, rapid response and management is needed.
7
Through Our Clean Future, work on parks and protected areas and the Yukon Parks Strategy,
programming related to fish and wildlife, and the implementation of Yukon First Nations Final
Agreements, the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, and Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement,
the Government of Yukon is monitoring the health of certain species to indicate climate change
impacts on ecosystems, assessing the health status of wetland ecosystems, tracking new and
invasive species, monitoring climate change impacts in parks and protected areas, and working
with Indigenous governments and organizations on protected area management, monitoring, and
stewardship. Yukon's protected area network is not yet complete. For example, the Parks and
Land Certainty Act commits the Government of Yukon to have one core protected park within each
ecoregion. This has not yet been achieved.
―
and the
Joint management initiatives among federal, territorial and Indigenous governments
implementation of Yukon First Nations Final Agreements, the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, and the
Yukon Transboundary Agreement of the Gwich'in Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement - are
identifying priorities for conservation, management and stewardship. The implementation of
co-management and joint management agreements over lands and waters can build meaningful
relationships, advance reconciliation, and build capacity to adapt to climate change impacts.
Additionally, land guardian programs can support and/or facilitate community-based monitoring
and can help fill gaps in information and build capacity to adapt to changes to plants and animals.
7. Participants explained that in the Yukon, there is no single government department that has a mandate to manage or
respond to impacts of biodiversity outside specific sectors or areas (such as parks). Plants, fungi and invertebrates are
examples. The Department of Environment manages wildlife (vertebrate animals) and their habitat, which is harvest focused.
Fungi and plants fall under the responsibility of the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, but they are considered in
the context of forestry and agriculture. This leads to a gap in managing many invasive species and their effects on
biodiversity more broadly.
CHAPTER 4 PRIORITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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