Parks Canada - Climate Change Unit
Project Details
Parks Canada manages a network of protected areas. Healthy ecosystems offer natural solutions to climate change. Parks Canada monitors changes in the environment and makes decisions for a climate-smart future.
Placement Details
Parks Canada protects and presents nationally significant examples of Canada’s natural and cultural heritage, and fosters public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment. Placements with Parks Canada involve a mix of research and policy, and generally a better understanding of conservation from a wider lens.
This virtual placement provides a participant to work closely with Parks Canada’s national Climate Change Science and Advisory (CCSA) Team, as well as staff from the National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCAs), National Marine Conservation Area Reserves (NMCARs), and coastal National Parks (NPs) / National Park Reserves (NPRs).
Participants support the CCSA Team in developing draft climate change summaries for these sites, researching climate change impacts on marine protected areas, and analyzing marine and coastal climate data for the Agency’s national office and Field Unit staff.
Specific tasks include working with Government of Canada colleagues and external institutes in marine science to help identify marine datasets for effective planning of protected areas; exploring climate change summary templates for coastal and marine sites; supporting the drafting and packaging of high-resolution climate projections into short climate summaries; assisting Field Unit Staff with retrieving, analyzing and synthesizing climate data; and other duties as needed.
Placement Category: Data Analysis, Management and Reporting; Policy and Strategy
Placement Season: Flexible
Placement Type: Virtual
2023 Participant Highlights
Participant Saroja Manpadi
Saroja had a busy summer with Parks Canada during her 2023 placement. Between researching data sets and managing/analyzing data, she not only deepened her knowledge of climate change, but also gained a deeper understanding of how it relates to marine issues and conservation. This placement also provided her with the valuable opportunity to meet and network with other teams within Parks Canada and learn about the role the government plays in climate research and forecasting.
Check out her @oceanwiseyouth feature here.
2021-2022 Participant Highlights
Participant Eva (Havva) Ozcan
Eva worked closely with Parks Canada’s National Climate Change Team and other Parks staff to develop a needs assessment and to define a process to assist national office and field unit staff focused on NMCAs/NMCARs in their climate change adaptation planning efforts. This includes creating a process map and guidance document that will serve as a reference for Parks staff and managers.
Participants Emily McIntosh and Keisha Segne
Keisha and Emily worked closely with Parks Canada’s National Climate Change Team and other Parks staff to develop a needs assessment and to define a process to assist national office and field unit staff focused on NMCAs/NMCARs in their climate change adaptation planning efforts. This includes creating a process map and guidance document that will serve as a reference for Parks staff and managers.
The National Climate Change Team is relatively new within Parks Canada, so Keisha and Emily were truly pioneering in their work. Their research is a starting point that will inform Parks Canada’s climate change adaptation strategy with respect to marine protected areas for many years to come.
Keisha loved getting to learn about the sustainability and climate change issues outside of her academic skills in biology. For Keisha, it was her first experience in a professional setting, and she got lots of practice with speaking with co-workers, writing, and communications. It has been eye-opening to see what happens at this level within the world of conservation. Exposure to the industry and lots of networking opportunities, both within Parks Canada and Ocean Wise, were valuable takeaways. Keisha also accepted an offer to continue her work in a paid position with Parks following her placement!
