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Moderator: Bob Purdy

Assessing Climate Risks at the Provincial Scale – The BC Example

Presenter: Johanna Wolf

In 2019, the Province of British Columbia released the Preliminary Strategic Climate Risk Assessment for BC and the associated framework. This assessment was a first attempt to quantify climate-related risks that would have major provincial significance. This innovative approach quantifies risk using the likelihood and consequences of specific scenarios occurring in the present and in the 2050s. In this presentation, the results will be discussed both in terms of the ranking of the overall risk scores as well as by nuancing the consequences across different risks. Future work will include scaling this framework for wider use by ministries, public sector organizations and regional governments. This preliminary assessment is intended to be iterative and will help inform the new climate preparedness and adaptation strategy, for release in 2020, a commitment of the 2018 CleanBC plan

The Costs and Benefits of Climate Impacts and Adaptation in Canada: Demonstrating the Business Case for Resilience

Presenter: Richard Boyd

Climate change is already causing impacts with significant economic consequences today and will increasingly do so in the future. Demand is growing for information on the net costs of climate change, as well as the costs and benefits of adaptation strategies, amongst people charged with making decisions governing options to reduce the impacts and risks of climate change.

This presentation will summarize the state of knowledge of climate change impacts and adaptation economics in Canada. It starts out by setting the context for adaptation decision-making, highlighting the supporting role of economic analysis and tools. Next, estimates of the economic consequences of climate change for Canada are assessed from a national, provincial, municipal and sectoral perspective. Economic tools to support adaptation decision-making and their application in Canada are subsequently discussed. It wraps up by providing broad conclusions and key messages for building the business case for investment in climate adaptation.

Moderator: Mike Simpson

Freedom Space for Rivers: An Economical Approach to Sustainable Management in a Changing Climate

Presenter: Joanna Eyquem

Globally, there has been movement towards more sustainable river management, based on the concept of working with natural processes. This includes giving appropriate space to rivers in urban and infrastructure design, so that natural flooding and erosion can occur, and associated ecosystem services can function. This approach, termed the "Freedom Space approach" in Quebec is in contrast to reactive, localized interventions, which have often served to temporarily displace problems rather than providing long-term solutions.

In this presentation, Joanna Eyquem will outline techniques being used to define the function space required by rivers. This includes use of LiDAR and hydrogeomorphological interpretation to identify fluvial risks, as well as consideration of riparian wetlands. Cost-benefit analysis undertaken for three case studies in Quebec will demonstrate the overall benefit to society of adopting this approach, taking into account the benefits of ecosystem services that are likely to increase watershed resilience to climate change impacts.

Adaptation to Flooding in Mi’kma’ki

Presenters: Alex Cadel and Cheyenne MacDonald

First Nations communities are commonly recognized as being among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Many communities already routinely deal with overland flooding, storm surge and erosion, and these impacts will be further exacerbated in a changing climate due to altered precipitation patterns and sea level rise.

This presentation will discuss how the Climate Action team at the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq has worked with eight Mi’kmaw communities to conduct climate vulnerability assessments, create digital elevation models to examine different flooding scenarios, and develop adaptation strategies to address priority issues. This will include an example of how flood hazard information was used to help band leadership make land use planning decisions for a new school, along with planned coastal monitoring and restoration activities. Presenters will also examine how the Mi’kmaw concepts of Netukulimk and Two-Eyed Seeing drive projects.

Dawson Creek Flood Mitigation: The Shift to Informed Decision-Making

Presenter: Chelsea Mottishaw

Each flood event creates unique opportunities as well as impacts and challenges. In the last decade, the City of Dawson Creek has experienced two large floods which resulted in considerable impacts to infrastructure, residents and the environment. With support from grant funding, the City of Dawson Creek has now committed to an integrated flood management approach, shifting from a reactionary response to flooding to informed decision-making.

This oral presentation will provide an overview of the City’s journey to building resiliency to flood risk through structural and non-structural investments. Achieving effective flood risk reduction requires a holistic watershed approach where staff, emergency management and academic research come together to inform policy and investments.

Moderator: Theresa Fresco

Kikawinaw Askiy: Source Water Protection Planning at Okanese First Nation, Treaty 4, Saskatchewan

Presenters: Cade Tuckanow-Starr and Dr. Robert Patrick

Climate change threatens Kikawinaw Askiy (Mother Earth) — our lands, water, fish and plants — all that gives life. Okanese First Nation is located in Treaty 4 Territory, Saskatchewan, approximately 110 km northeast of Regina. Okanese First Nation aspires to achieve reconciliation with Kikawinaw Askiy by restoring our sacred ecology of how to live on the land in a respectful and life-sustaining way. In 2018 Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier and Council gave approval for a source water protection plan with the goal to protect source water for future generations. Groundwater is our only source of drinking water. Climate change and past land use practices threaten our sacred and life-giving water. This planning process has partnered with the University of Saskatchewan in knowledge-sharing and relationship-building.

This presentation describes our source water protection plan and how the planning process engages community members, including youth, women and Elders, to guide future community development, protect public safety and infrastructure, and ensure wise economic investments.

Collaborative Drought Planning in the Semi-arid Okanagan Region

Presenters: Kellie Garcia and Nelson Jatel

Climate change presents a fundamental long-term challenge to water sustainability in the semi-arid Okanagan region. Within the last decade, the Okanagan has experienced high elevation snowmelt occurring earlier than usual (as early as March), record high water flows in spring, record low flows in summer and fall, and extreme and prolonged summer heat events. With many public water systems, a growing population and a chain of valley lakes that connect us all, successful climate change adaptation in the Okanagan depends on collaboration.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board helps communities work together to become more resilient and bring consistent and cooperative responses to climate change. In this session, two speakers will share case studies, including a project to develop environmental flow need values for Okanagan streams, best practices, challenges and opportunities associated with collaborative drought planning. Live polls will be used to gather audience input, facilitate discussion, and broaden learning opportunities.

Moderator: Inger Miller

The First Nations Infrastructure Resilience Toolkit: Integrating Climate Risks into Asset Management

Presenters: Guy Felio and Elmer Lickers

The Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation (OFNTSC), in collaboration with Stantec Consulting and Engineers Canada, developed a First Nations (FN) Infrastructure Resilience Toolkit that guides FN communities in the assessment of risks related to climate change in a life-cycle/asset management context.The Toolkit was developed through pilots in three First Nation communities in Ontario and is now used for capacity development across the Province; it was funded by the governments of Canada and Ontario.

This presentation discusses the development process, principles and key elements of the Toolkit (climate risks assessment and asset management modules). Using case studies in communities across Ontario, the presenter illustrates the steps of using the Toolkit for integrating climate risks into the life-cycle analysis of asset management planning.

Building System-Wide Resilience and Capacity: Lessons Learned from a Flood Resilience Assessment in Ontario

Presenter: Glenn Milner

As the need to move from adaptation planning to implementation continues to increase, it is crucial that decision-makers consider innovative ways to incorporate vulnerable populations and social resilience factors into setting priorities and assessing risk. To meet this need, traditional infrastructure risk assessments are evolving in scope and scale to consider the communities and people that rely upon them. Based on a case study conducted in the Province of Ontario, this presentation will identify an approach and lessons learned from assessing flood resilience in an innovative way across a portfolio of buildings. An emphasis will be placed on how staff capacity to respond helped to inform the level of resilience, and how outputs can be tailor-made to be more valuable in decision-making.

Presenters: David Reid (moderator), Chris Osborne, Don Crockett and Grant Lamont

BC Provincial policy now requires that all Local Governments consider climate-change-related Sea Level Rise (SLR) and related Coastal Flood Hazard Area Land Use Guidelines in their bylaws. This change brings consideration of SLR to the forefront in Official Community Plans, Development Permits, Zoning Bylaws, Subdivision and Engineering Bylaws, as well as Asset Management. SLR consideration will also feature in private sector development applications and related real estate and agriculture planning.

This interactive panel session brings together a team of planners, landscape architects, visualization, community engagement and engineers that are working with communities to integrate SLR adaptation into long-term planning, infrastructure and regulations.  It will explore some of the scientific, political and communications challenges faced by these various professionals.

In a coordinated series, each panelist will provide a 10-15 minute presentation. An interactive audience discussion will focus on how this panel’s experience is reflected in other municipalities or private sector projects.

Moderator: Jim Vanderwal

Climate Change Induced Vulnerability of Lobster Fishing Communities

Presenter: Kiyomi Ferguson

Climate change related effects on fisheries will undoubtedly have socio-economic impacts on coastal communities. However, integrating climate change information in a form that can be used efficiently by adaptation planners/policy makers/fishery managers remains a challenge. This presentation outlines how ocean climate models that provided mid-century projections of temperature were used to predict changes in lobster distribution in Nova Scotia, Canada. Vulnerability indices (socio-economics, infrastructure, environment, and the likely response of lobster to warming), were then integrated at the scale at which fishery decisions are made in this region (fishery management units), to provide assessments of climate change related vulnerabilities to coastal communities. Because adaptation planning is very important for long-term sustainability, the proximate goal is to make outputs available online as a tool to help fishery managers take a geographical perspective to adaptation planning, and to anticipate changes in productivity and abundance across borders of neighbouring communities.

Collaborative Research in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (Western Canadian Arctic): Building the Evidence-base for an Inuit Food Security Strategy

Presenters: Jullian MacLean and Sonia Wesche

Climate change, in combination with other social-ecological stressors, challenges the integrity of both country (wild) food and market food components of Inuit food systems in Canada’s Arctic. In the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, research partners from the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, universities and local communities are working to better understand and address food security issues. A community engagement process was conducted, involving 12 focus groups and 19 key informant interviews, in Inuvik, Aklavik, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tuktoyaktuk and Ulukhaktok. Taking a "food security governance" lens, community assets, gaps, priorities and actions will be discussed, as will the role of retail, food transportation and health service dynamics. A co-developed framework aims to scale up results to enable alignment of local and regional goals. Research outcomes will help decision-makers identify gaps and opportunities for action on food security, align resources across sectors and contribute to emerging policy frameworks at multiple scales.

Moderator: Pete Thimmaiah

Climate Change & Health in Fort William First Nation: Planning for the Future, Today

Presenters: Elizabeth Esquega

The overarching goal of the project entitled "Climate Change & Health in Fort William First Nation: Planning for the Future, Today" is to build capacity for planning and implementing adaptation measures that protect and promote the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health of Fort William First Nation (FWFN) community members.  To this end, we are developing a guiding framework based on the Medicine Wheel, conducting community workshops, gathering stories and Traditional Knowledge from community members in relation to climate change and health, and implementing a photovoice project with youth. The project builds on emerging relationships between FWFN, Lakehead University and community organizations in the Thunder Bay Region. Working together and strengthening these relationships is a critical step towards building capacity for developing and implementing adaptation measures that protect and promote health in the context of changing climate.

This oral presentation will describe and present preliminary findings and learnings from the project.

Resisting Pollinator Decline in Mi'kma'ki

Presenter: Peter Steiner

Native plants and pollinators are in decline due to a range of climate-change related threats. Gardenside pollinator habitat mitigates this decline by restoring biodiversity and function alongside sustainable agricultural production. As part of a coherent management plan at a landscape scale, it can promote connectivity between new and existing habitat patches. This is essential to effectively conserve many types of native pollinators, as flight ranges are often limited to hundreds of metres.

Mi'kmaw communities sit at a crucial intersection of this conservation, being urban communities set in rural contexts — often surrounded by agricultural land. Here, we show some first results from an initiative in which Mi'kmaq participants were invited to work on conserving forage material and corridors for pollinators as land managers. Traditional Algonquian culture-group agriculture involves companion planting of culturally-anchored native plants alongside food-producing plants (e.g, ceremonial tobacco alongside groundcherries), resulting in rich habitat for pollinators.

Presenters: Steve Litke (moderator) and David Roulston

Under climate change, major floods are expected to increase in magnitude and frequency across Canada. Whether it is sea level rise, higher peak flows on rivers, or an increase in rainfall, flood planning and decision-making at all scales must account for changing flood hazards. This session will explore how climate change impacts are being integrated into flood management plans and strategies in British Columbia at three scales: local, regional and provincial. Case examples include a local initiative, the Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy, and work being done to inform provincial flood strategies across BC.

Presenters will explore the challenges and opportunities with integrating climate change in flood planning, focusing on coastal and riverine flood hazards. What climate change guidance is available? What climate change scenarios should be used? How adaptable are different flood risk reduction measures? What timelines are appropriate for policy changes? Afterwards, participants will exchange insights and experiences in a World Café-style discussion session.