Environment knows no borders — international group meets on P.E.I. to address common issues
A group that works to protect the environment across North America, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, gathered in Charlottetown Tuesday at UPEI to discuss how climate change affects coastal communities, among other issues.
Many of the people at the 24th annual meeting help to shape government policy across the continent — they include environment officials who work with federal environment ministers, environment experts, and people who implement and oversee the commission's projects.
The commission was formed in 1994 to work on solving environmental problems common to Canada, the U.S. and Mexico through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
"We share borders, but we also share problems and we share environmental issues," said Cesar Chavez, the commission's executive director.
Climate change impact
One of the commission's concerns — and something that hits close to home on P.E.I.— is how climate change affects coastal communities.
"What we heard this morning is that some of the most important topics are the ones dealing with erosion — loss of sand and beaches for instance — and also the frequency of unexpected weather conditions, extreme weather conditions, which are more storms, more landslides, more extreme heat or cold events," said Chavez.
Experts at the meeting will compile the input and take it to the environment ministers for the three countries in a few weeks.
That includes federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, who greeted some of the delegates at a reception in Greenwich, P.E.I., Tuesday evening.
Earlier in the day McKenna visited Summerside, P.E.I., to see some green projects there and met with Premier Wade MacLauchlan to talk about what P.E.I. is doing to fight climate change.
The CEC meeting is open to the public and continues until Wednesday and is being streamed online.
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