Our increasing knowledge of the predicted impacts of a changing climate is playing a greater and greater role in the policy and business decisions being made by stakeholders in Manitoba's agricultural sector. Climate change is just one of the many pressures agriculture producers face as they work to ensure the economic viability of their operations. It is widely recognized that minimizing the impacts and maximizing the opportunities resulting from our changing climate will require a sector-wide shift to more sustainable agricultural practices.
On February 11, 2003, the Climate Change Branch of Manitoba Energy, Science and Technology and the International Institute for Sustainable Development hosted a conference entitled, Agriculture and Carbon Management: Benefits and Opportunities for Manitobans. The overall purpose of this conference was to increase the agricultural producers' understanding of the potential roles of agricultural land use and land management in the sequestration of carbon in Manitoba.
The specific objectives of this conference were to:
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provide Manitobans with an understanding of commercial opportunities carbon sequestration might create;
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present information on carbon management, best practices and quantification; and
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show how current or potential management practices will be consistent with agricultural and climate change policy in Canada.
The conference featured four plenary sessions and local and national specialists on carbon management, quantification and carbon trading, as well as entrepreneurs and policy-makers who looked ahead at the opportunities carbon management strategies might create for the agricultural sector.
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