OTTAWA, April 6 Canada could gain Arctic shipping routes, a milder climate and a lot of new agricultural land from global warming.But the report released Friday by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change also predicts a decline in Arctic species like caribou, water shortages because of shrinking glaciers and snow pack and a drop in the size of the Great Lakes. Buildings, roads and pipelines in northern towns and villages could also be damaged or destroyed by melting permafrost, and forest fires could become twice as frequent, CanWest News Service reports.Canada's Inuit population is likely to be hit hardest."In the big scheme of things, we are very fortunate," said Ian Burton, a climatologist who was part of the Canadian delegation reviewing the report in Brussels. "While there are big changes coming in Canada, we are very well equipped to deal with them." Copyright 2007 by UPI
