A new report by the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy about the Mackenzie River basin in Canada is garnering significant attention in the science, policy and general news media. Headed by Henry Vaux, Jr., emeritus associate vice president of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Rosenberg Forum is part of the ANR's California Institute for Water Resources.
The nine Canadian, U.S. and United Kingdom authors of the Mackenzie study say effective governance of the massive basin, comparable in size to Africa's Serengeti Plain, holds enormous national and global importance due to the watershed's biodiversity and its role in bird migrations, stabilizing climate and the health of the Arctic Ocean.
Canada's Mackenzie River basin is one of the world's most important major ecosystems, but has been poorly studied and inadequately monitored, the scientists said. Climate change and resource exploitation put the basin at serious risk.
Read the complete report here.
Among the media articles based on the report were:
- Mackenzie River Basin at risk due to climate change, mining
Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC) - Mackenzie River basin under threat from development: study
Vancouver Sun (Canadian Press story, ran in several papers) - Report highlights development threats on Canadian watershed
Nature Blogs - Canada's 'Northern Amazon' on the Brink
The Tyee - Catastrophic oil spill threat to Canadian river basin
Climate News Network
The Forum's news release on the report, published on Eurekalert, was also picked up by dozens of media outlets, including Red Orbit, Science Daily and Science Newsline. The report got a tremendous amount of exposure via Twitter with at least 1,000 individual tweets with a reach well into at least 100,000 accounts.
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