WINNIPEG — The heated debate is settled-the Earth's climate is changing. Canada has agreed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and the agriculture sector can help the nation meet its targets. Using conservation production practices agriculture has the potential to pull carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and trap them in the soil. Understanding this strategy is critical if Manitoba farmers are to stay competitive in the rapidly changing commodities marketplace. The challenge is to develop the right strategies to address sequestration at the right time.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development and Manitoba Agriculture are hosting a special Agricultural Landscape Sequestration of GHGs for members of the agricultural community on Thursday, September 21, 2000 in Winnipeg at the Red River Exhibition Park, 3977 Portage Avenue.

The workshop's goal is to raise awareness of climate change and GHG sequestration in Manitoba and to promote strategy development for farmers in the province. Throughout the day Canadian climate change experts hope to encourage discussion on how to deal with climate change by using current scientific understanding, identifying and strengthening the links between farmers and public policy-makers, and facilitating communication, consultation and negotiation among the various stakeholders. The hope is to create a mechanism to develop practical solutions for the effects of climate change on agriculture in the province.

"This workshop will raise awareness of the international and national processes surrounding greenhouse gas sequestration strategies for addressing climate change," said Allen Tyrchniewicz, senior specialist of natural resource management at IISD. "Farmers need to understand the physical and political changes this issue will bring. We must look now at how we're going to position agriculture in order to achieve the maximum benefit from opportunities climate change could bring."

The workshop runs from 9:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Topics covered by industry and government experts include background on climate change; climate change policies and agreements; science of sequestration in agriculture; and economics of sequestration on the prairies.