1 Kyoto Protocol: Effects on Agriculture By

What if the atmosphere retained a greater amount of the sun’s energy due to a change its gaseous composition? What if instead of letting heat escape the earth’s atmosphere, more heat was reflected back to earth raising the tempera ure of the air, the sea, and the soil? The changes in levels of atmospheric gases have been predicted to cause a rise in ocean levels, the melting of polar ice caps, changes in precipitation patterns, and an increase in extreme weather occurrences. If negative climatic impacts are not mitigated through the stabilization of atmospheric conditions island nations, coastal communities, and developing countries will experience severe disturbances including flooding, famine, species migration and extinction, a d desertification, but these are not the only regions of the world that would suffer under the volatile weather conditions which could arise from climatic change (Bryce, 1999) (The Canada-Country Study). Canada could experience more extreme weather events, loss of soil moisture, immigration of n w pests, and increased soil erosion and degradation (Bryce, 1999, p.29) (Martin, 1991, p.27). As a country with semi-arid areas and areas prone to drought Canada is at risk to the negative impacts of climate change. Agricultural lands, hard hit by extreme weather events, increased soil moisture evaporation, and organic soil carbon loss, could be invaded by migrating pests and wildlife in search of new habitat and experience a 10-30 percent loss in yields (Environment Canada) (The Canada-Country Study). The concern about “global warming ” or the “Greenhouse Effect ” first arose on the internationa