2009 Alumni Achievement Award winner
An adjunct in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, Linda Mortsch has 20 years of research experience in the climate change impact assessment field. She conducts research on the impact of climate change on water resources and wetlands in Canada, climate change scenario development, and “effective” communication of climate change information.
Since 1989, Mortsch has contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading forum for assessing climate change. She was co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for her role as the Coordinating Lead Author of the North America Chapter of the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.
Mortsch led a Canada-U.S. integrated climate change impact assessment in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin from 1992 to 1997 where adaptation to climate change and interaction with stakeholders were key contributions. As the federal co-chair of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Indicators Task Group, she collaborated on a report reviewing the effects of Canada's changing climate on nature and people. She was a lead author for the Water Chapter the Canada Country Study and a co-author in Environment Canada’s “Threats to water availability in Canada”. She has provided expert advice to numerous organizations including the United Kingdom Climate Impacts Program (UKCIP), the U.S. National Climate Assessment, OURANOS, Standing Committee of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region, Natural Resources Canada, International Joint Commission, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.