Auditor-General warns about climate change's impact on agriculture.Ottawa—Parliamentarians have received a blunt warning about how climate change will adversely affect rural economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries.Canada's food supply is at risk from increased frequency of drought and wildfires that poses a risk to production and livelihoods, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the Auditor General of Canada say in a detailed joint report on the lack of action on climate change in Canada.“Major international commitments to fight climate change, of which Canada has been a part, date back to 1992,” the Commissioner and Auditor General said. Their conclusion, after reviewing three decades of Canadian action and inaction on climate change, is that Canada needs stronger leadership and coordination to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.The country is too dependent “on emission‑intensive sectors and risks falling behind other countries on investing in a climate‑resilient future Climate targets have not been backed by strong plans or actions.” The result is Canada faces an intergenerational crisis with a rapidly closing window for action.“This report provides a historical perspective on Canada's action to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in order to inform parliamentarians,” they said. “Parliamentarians are instrumental in ensuring that Canada transitions to a low‑emission economy and ultimately must hold the government to account in meeting its climate change objectives.“This report also aims to build Canadians' awareness of the climate crisis, to share the Commissioner's views, and to position future work on Canada's climate change efforts.“The aim is to help Canada learn from past failures so that it can translate its good intentions into positive outcomes. Continued failure is not an option if Canada and the rest of the world are to protect the earth and humanity from catastrophic climate change.”Despite commitments from government after government to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the past three decades, Canada has failed to translate these commitments into real reductions in net emissions. Instead, Canada's emissions have continued to rise.”The COVID-19 pandemic “has shown that Canada does have the capacity to respond to crises. Will Canada finally turn the corner and do its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that strong, concerted government action can avert the worst of a crisis. But the longer‑term crisis of climate change looms larger than ever.”Countries whose governments took strong initial steps and followed scientific advice generally fared better than those that did not. Like pandemics, climate change is a global crisis, which experts have been raising alarms about for decades, the report said. Pandemics and climate change both carry risks to human health and the economy, and both require whole‑of‑society responses to prevent further catastrophe.”Canada has made some progress in decoupling emissions from population growth and its gross domestic product, the report said. Canada's population and economy have grown faster than emissions have however greenhouse gas emissions have increased in recent years making it the worst performing of all G7 nations.In 2017, the Office of the Auditor General committed to examining in its performance audits and special examinations how federal organizations are contributing to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals especially taking “urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.”