Assessing Climate Change Risk and Resilience in the Yukon
The mining sector employs a significant number of Yukoners, and often requires access to remote
areas, where snow and ice cover and other climate impacts can affect the ability to travel to and
from work sites, store equipment, excavate and extract materials. Impacts such as changing
conditions on rivers and lakes, extreme weather, and wildfires pose risks for safe access to and
from work sites and at work sites. Additionally, permafrost thaw and extreme precipitation can
pose hazards for critical mining infrastructure. This can lead to environmental impacts to surround-
ing ecosystems and can affect communities. Ensuring that mining companies are working to
incorporate climate-related risks into their operations will help build resilience.
For the tourism sector, risks stem from environmental conditions that are increasingly variable and
difficult to predict. This includes changes to snow and ice cover, as well as variable, uncertain and
extreme weather. These changes may have significant implications for winter tourism activities that
rely on access to stable snow and ice conditions, such as dog mushing, snowmobiling, skiing and
snowshoeing. In the summer, changes to water conditions on lakes and rivers may affect the ability
of tourism operators to safely conduct land- and water-based activities such as boat trips, canoe
trips and guided hikes. Visitors to backcountry areas are increasingly requiring assistance, in some
cases despite having good-quality equipment and experience. This is a sector where capacity to
predict and adjust to changing conditions can help build resilience. This includes providing
decision-making tools for tourism operators, their clients, and unguided visitors and residents;
emergency response planning for visitors; gathering information on the implications of climate
change on insurance policies; and providing financial incentives for the purchase of safety
equipment.
Recommendations: There is a need to enhance understanding of how climate change will affect
Yukon businesses, and to a greater extent, the Yukon's economy as a whole. These include identify-
ing potential risks and emerging economic opportunities. These topics need further consideration,
especially in the context of COVID-19 economic hardship and recovery.
CHAPTER 4 PRIORITIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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