Potential Impacts: Sensitivity of River Regions to Climate Change

The most sensitive river regions include the Atlantic coast, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Valley regions, the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies. The sensitivity projection for Canada's river regions in response to climate warming was derived based on an examination of the effects of projected precipitation changes on landscapes. Climate warming has the potential to cause substantial changes to flow in rivers. The most direct effects of projected climate change would be an increase in floods and river erosion.