WINNIPEG -- A Winnipeg-based environmental think-tank warns that Manitoba must adapt to more frequent and extreme floods, droughts and other weather events that will result from climate change.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development contends in a new report that the province must do more to prepare for changes to seasonal precipitation patterns.
The researchers say southern Manitoba can expect more spring flooding and summer dry spells as spring runoff occurs earlier in the year.
The report says floods and droughts compound the deterioration of Lake Winnipeg by in-creasing the flow of nutrients into the over-fertilized body of water.
Researcher Hank Venema says the province must offer more incentives to farmers to pro-tect existing wetlands and restore old marshes.
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He also says the province must move quickly to modernize its water-conservation policy and redirect existing funds to conservation programs.
One thing the government could do right away is stop making farmers pay property tax on wetlands, said Ian Wishart, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, the province's largest farm lobby.
Existing incentives should be beefed up, he added.
"The marketplace only rewards us for one thing, as producers: What we sell," Wishart said. "There's a focus on production at all costs and (environmental) concerns get swept aside."
