Economic benefits of Northwest Passage opening with costs: researchers

MONTREAL (CP) - While the federal government eyes the economic benefits of a shipping route through Canada's north, scientists are warning that the fabled passage cannot come about without serious costs to the environment.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has ramped up efforts recently to assert Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, a potentially lucrative route to Asia that could open year-round thanks to global warming.

But researchers studying the country's Arctic lakes say ecosystems in the north are struggling to adapt to climate change.

"There might be some positives for some shipping companies for a short period of time, but there's certainly a lot of negatives too," said John Smol, a professor at Queen's University specializing in water and climate change.

Researchers at an international conference on water in Montreal are looking to Arctic lakes as important warning systems for the dangers that other bodies of water can face.

Histories of Arctic lakes suggest the rate of global warming has greatly accelerated in the last 150 years, and even more so recently.

Several studies presented at the conference conclude rising temperatures are now eating into the ice cover of lakes. A similar process must occur for ships to be able to cross through the Northwest Passage.

"Less ice cover changes the whole ecosystem," Smol said Monday during a break at the limnology conference. "There is less time for photosynthesis among other things."
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