Search AC2020

Presenters: Roy Brooke (moderator), Rohan Lilauwala and Natalia Moudrak

Moderator: Dr. Sabine Dietz

Presenters: James Bornemann, Jamie Burke, Adam Cheeseman, Erin Taylor and Dr. Danika van Proosdij

Nature-based adaptation approaches work with ecosystems to increase our resilience to climate change. This adaptation approach is gaining momentum in the Maritime region, as many groups have developed natural/nature-based infrastructure projects (e.g. stormwater ponds, salt marsh restoration) to help address local level impacts (e.g. flooding, erosion, sea level rise).

The goal of this session is to explore successes and opportunities for natural/nature-based adaptation in Maritime Canada, while encouraging a reflection on existing gaps that may be impeding the broad-scale implementation of this approach. Panelists represent various sectors and geographic regions to offer diverse perspectives on this important, yet under-utilized, adaptation approach.

Presenters: Dr. Elizabeth Nelson and Dr. Diana Stralberg (co-moderators), Dr. Carlos Carroll, Jennifer Grant, Dr. Ilona Naujokaitis-Lewis and Dr. Gregor Schuurman

This session will bring together conservation practitioners and researchers to discuss the implications of climate change for protected areas management and conservation priorities. Given the magnitude of change expected over the next century, conservation area managers are already identifying adaptation strategies for species and ecosystems under their protection. The identification of areas of likely ecological persistence (refugia) can inform efficient allocation of conservation resources. However, it is also important to understand when and where resistance is futile, and to begin developing strategies for accommodating, facilitating, and even expediting change.

Session co-organizers Dr. Elizabeth Nelson (Parks Canada) and Dr. Diana Stralberg (University of Alberta) have invited four panelists to provide brief presentations, followed by a series of small group discussions, with the aim of working together to answer the overarching question: “When should we resist, accept, or even facilitate change, and how can we combine these strategies effectively?”

Presenters: Lo Cheng (moderator), Isabelle Charron and Trevor Murdock

Climate change poses many risks to the health and well-being of Canadians and their communities. Cities, organizations and businesses need to understand how the climate is changing in order to increase their resilience to the effects of climate change and plan adaptation strategies. This requires access to reliable, timely and relevant climate data and associated information.

The session will provide an overview on how the Canadian Centre for Climate Services (CCCS) is supporting Canadians with information and online tools to consider climate change in their decisions. It will focus on ClimateData.ca, a user-friendly climate data portal that has brought together the expertise of national and regional climate service providers. The three session speakers include representatives from the CCCS and regional partners, Ouranos and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium. Participants will have the opportunity to try out ClimateData.ca to identify how this tool can aid their decision-making and to provide feedback.

Moderator: Jo-Ellen Parry

Presenters: Dinah Tambalo and others TBA

Communities and businesses throughout the Prairie Provinces are increasingly managing and preparing for more frequent and intense extreme events such as flooding, droughts and wildfires. This session will provide an opportunity for practitioners engaged in these efforts to share their experiences and learn from one another as they work to ensure that their communities and businesses are better prepared.

An opening presentation will describe how collaboration between the Prairie region’s provincial governments is building interactive networks and successfully engaging target audiences in adaptation. Adaptation practitioners will then discuss key climate adaptation issues within sectors of critical importance to the Prairie region in world café-style table discussions. These discussions will have a strong focus on knowledge sharing, identifying commonly experienced barriers, informing adaptation needs and priorities in the region, and generating solutions to these challenges. The session will be convened by the Prairies Regional Adaptation Collaborative (PRAC).

Moderator: Inger Miller

Canada’s Research Contributions to Climate Adaptation in the Global South

Presenter: Marie-Eve Landry and Jorgelina Hardoy

Over more than a decade, Canada has been at the forefront of efforts to cope with the effects of climate change across the developing world. This session will reflect and share concrete examples of the research contributions and learning in the Global South on topics, including climate resilient and inclusive urban and rural development, and on gender and social equity. Understanding that gender and social differences can be a source of resilience rather than simply indicators of vulnerability, the session will provide evidence that integrating social equity in climate research can lead to positive development impacts. These contributions suggest lessons for Canada and adaptation beyond 2020, which include moving beyond assessing bio-physical risk to addressing the root causes of social vulnerability, enabling collaborative research to fill existing knowledge gaps, and working across scales to connect the voices of local practitioners to national and global policy dialogues.

Climate Change Adaptation for Fisheries: Transferable lessons from capacity-limited fishing communities in the Caribbean

Presenters:  Jimena Eyzaguirre and Natascia Tamburello

In many coastal communities around the world, marine biodiversity, ecosystems, and fisheries provide sustenance and livelihood opportunities critical to human well-being. However, an increasing number of pressures including coastal development, pollution, overfishing, and now climate change are threatening the continued availability of these opportunities. The increasing availability of government or donor funds for supporting coastal adaptation presents an opportunity to develop systematic approaches to monitoring climate change impacts and implementing adaptation measures in coastal communities.

This presentation outlines key lessons from work on a climate-smart fisheries monitoring and management framework developed for the Caribbean region, including essential indicators for tracking climate change impacts on fisheries across different levels of capacity, decision-making frameworks for selecting and implementing adaptation strategies, and policy recommendations for mainstreaming adaptation in the fisheries sector. Drawing on these lessons, we highlight strategies transferable to climate change adaptation in capacity-limited fishing communities along Canada’s coastlines.

Moderator: Theresa Fresco

Adapting to a Warming Climate: Gardening Opportunities and Strategies in Subarctic Ontario, Canada

Presenters: Dr. Meaghan Wilton and Jassen Metatawabin

The warming climate of subarctic Ontario, Canada has created challenges to practising the Cree traditional way of life, such as the shifting of migratory game bird routes.  However, the warming climate has also presented the Cree with an opportunity − to grow vegetables and fruit under ambient conditions using agroforestry practices.

This two-speaker session will share agroforestry gardening strategies (e.g., willow (Salix sp.) wind-breaks and bush gardens) implemented by Fort Albany First Nation. The use of willow wind-breaks revealed benefits when employed in a community garden setting. The willow trees protected crops from wind, significantly improved phosphorus content of crops, and created a favourable microclimate for crop production. In Fort Albany, planting and harvesting times for crops coincide with times when people are at their camps for hunting activities. Thus, some community members have constructed bush gardens at their camps to have access to fresh vegetables while enjoying traditional activities.

Tłı̨chǫ Dǫtaàts’eedı (Tłı̨chǫ Sharing Food Amongst the People)

Presenters: Paul Cressman

Climate change is being felt acutely in Canada’s north. For the Tłı̨chǫ people in the Northwest Territories, adapting to climate change means addressing food security as well as creating opportunities to build cultural identity: as with the decline in Caribou populations, both are now under threat. Tłı̨chǫ Dǫtaàts’eedı is a simple program on paper with many complex real-life benefits. This presentation will describe how this community-driven climate change adaptation program addresses food security, builds cultural resilience, promotes intergenerational relationships and community support networks, prioritizes traditional knowledge, promotes cultural practices, and creates a culturally appropriate model for community justice.  

Presenters: Lilia Yumagulova (moderator), Devin Naveau, Casey Gabriel, and Amber MacLean-Hawes

Indigenous communities are faced with disproportionate risk of disasters and climate change and are at the forefront of adaptation. Organized by the Preparing Our Home program, this session includes three inspiring stories of building community resilience:

• The Xet̓ólacw Community School, Lil’wat Nation, developed Canada’s first Preparing Our Home community resilience curriculum. Drawing on Traditional Knowledge, this program combines youth-led hazard mapping, firefighting and lifesaving skills.
  
  
• Mattagami First Nation has been working hard to fight back against the changing conditions. With a great team, youth leadership and hard work, Mattagami has been able to implement a community-wide “Master Emergency Response Plan.”
  
  
• The Emergency Preparedness in Mi’kmaw Communities in Nova Scotia project focuses on using a holistic approach in determining community strengths, weakness and gaps for emergency preparedness, climate change adaptation and health. Youth action can increase community preparedness and lead the way in hopes of establishing lasting community impacts.