BERGS TO BERRIES: $32M GRANT WILL ‘PREPARE’ THE NORTH

Canada’s largest program of Arctic research will receive more than $32 million in funding over the next five years, the federal government announced Tuesday. Louis Fortier, head of Arcticnet, said the money will be used to help understand the challenges faced by a rapidly changing North due to climate change and industrialization. “It’s really science to inform decisions, to prepare people in the North and also the government in the south,” said Fortier. “It’s really applied research.” Arcticnet, founded in 2004, brings 30 Canadian universities and dozens of scientists together with northerners, private industry and foreign research agencies. It funds work in the natural, health and social sciences. “We study the marine environment and the terrestrial ecosystems,” Fortier said.