Northern Climate Change Network - The NCCN newsletter focuses on climate change stories that foster greater awareness of community level climate change impacts and adaptation, and which have relevance to north-central British Columbia.
To subscribe email:
nccn@resourcesnorth.org BC Climate Exchange - The BC Climate Exchange provides a comprehensive list of resources for individuals, businesses, governments, first nations, educators and community organizations. The BC Climate Exchange Mailings List is a great way to post information and receive regular updates.
You can subscribe via their website:
www.bcclimateexchange.ca AdaptNet Recommended as the best source of resources and information related to communities and adaptation around the world. Adaptnet (ISSN: 1836-2478) is a free weekly report produced by RMIT University Global Cities Institute's Climate Change Adaptation Working Group, Melbourne, Australia. You can subscribe by emailing the person managing the list at
adaptnet-owner@nautilus.org.
Adapting to Climate Change: A Risk-based Guide for Ontario Municipalities, Bruce, J.P., I.D.M.Egener, D. Noble. (Dec 2006) - This Guide presents a risk-based approach that can be used to facilitate municipalities’ efforts to adapt to climate change through both longer term planning and short-term responses. It can be used as a reference manual, a training and facilitation tool as well as give examples for managing climate change related risks and gaining support for adaptation. These authors promote the risk management approach because most Canadian organizations, including municipalities, are familiar with and use risk management techniques already. It is intended to be used along side other assessment tools such as vulnerability assessments and climate change scenarios.
Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) held a week-long adaptation planning exercise in Atlin, British Columbia - In preparing for a climate change impacts assessment and adaptation planning in Atlin, BC, the NCE created a methodology to follow. The overall aim of their community-based climate change adaptation planning was to find answers to the following questions: what changes in the climate is the community seeing; how are people responding to these changes; what potential problems does future climate change pose; what potential opportunities does future climate change present; and what can people do to manage future climate change?
Preparing for Climate Change: A Guidebook for Local, Regional, and State Governments (2007) - The guidebook is designed to help local, regional, and state governments prepare for climate change by recommending a detailed, easy-to-understand process for climate change preparedness based on familiar resources and tools. It is extremely thorough and was used by King County in Washington. It presents great questions to think about in your assessment however small municipalities may find it too detailed. It is the co-creation of King County, Climate Impacts Group (U of Washington) and ICLEI.
Climate Change Planning Tools for First Nations Guidebooks (2006) - These six Guidebooks ‘walk and talk’ a First Nation through the planning process. Each develops an important part of the planning process and is a precursor to the next guidebook. They contain: suggestions of how a First Nation might plan for climate change, how to involve the community, and activities that a First Nation can use to involve members of the community to set priorities and achieve them. They appear to be relevant and applicable to rural communities as well.
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, Research Database - Most community vulnerability assessments to date have been instigated and led by researchers (rather than communities), although many involve partnerships with local governments and community groups. Most of these assessments were funded through the federal Climate Change Action Fund (now defunct). The complete list of community adaptation research projects is available through this link, with a couple of suggested readings to follow.
Sierra Climate Change Toolkit, 2nd edition - The focus of this Toolkit (2007) is to explain how Sierra rural communities can plan ahead for the changes that are going to occur. It includes information about climate change impacts and specific actions to plan ahead for:
A. Water and Watershed Management
1. Flood Management
2. Dam Relicensing
3. Watershed and Fisheries: Assessment, Protection, and Restoration
4. Water Supply
B. Species Protection
C. Forest Management
D. Wildfire Management Strategies
E. City and County Land Use Planning
1. Community-Wide Land Use Impacts
2. Site-Specific Land Use Impacts
3. Reducing Emissions Through Better Land Use
i. Community-Scale Recommendations
ii. Site-Specific Recommendations
Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit â€" ICLEI 2009 - This is the result of one year’s work on an Australian adaptation initiative which includes tools and exercises tested by five pilot councils and reviewed by several observer councils. The tools and exercises are designed to help councils navigate through an enhanced risk management process, or adaptive management process, in a way that helps them identify aspects of their internal decision-making processes that need to be enhanced to appropriately and routinely plan for the impacts of climate change, as well as to generate and implement a plan to manage the risks and harness the opportunities identified as priorities for their municipalities. Launched March 2009.
Case Study Report: Sudbury, Ontario (2006-7) - The study was divided into three components: 1) assessment of community understanding, adaptive capacity and vulnerability to climate change; 2) climate change impact assessment at the local level; and 3) evaluation of vulnerabilities and potential adaptation measures for the various sectors of the community (e.g. industries, NGOs, municipal decision making and planning, emergency measures, etc.). The documentation provides lots of insights and lessons learned. It is important to keep in mind that Sudbury is considered a mid-size community (550,000 pop) and their process budget was just under $500,000.
Walpole Island First Nation (2004) - This is a guidance document created by a research group and the local community. It speaks more to possible impacts and what steps could be taken to address this. It does not appear that adaptation planning was done however the document includes an example of a potential adaptation planning framework.
NRCAN Climate Impacts and Adaptation Program - This site has a database of funded projects on climate change adaptation. Many are sector specific. However, reports and contact information are available for each project which is useful for learning about various aspects of the process. The utility is dependent on the matching of your project with what has already been done. There is an interesting study looking at Fredericton, New Brunswick looks at the government’s role in urban infrastructure (
http://adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca/projdb/pdf/182b_e.pdf). It highlights that change is taking place at the local level however for implementation, policy changes are needed at the provincial and federal levels, and is worth a scan.
Adaptation Actions database of UK organizations and their projects - A lot of information exists from other countries on adaptation at the municipal level. While their circumstances may differ, their sites are worth visiting.
Adapting to Climate Change website of Australian Government (including risk management guide for local governments) - A lot of information exists from other countries on adaptation at the municipal level. While their circumstances may differ, their sites are worth visiting.
Cities Preparing for Climate Change: A Study of Six Urban Regions, Clean Air Partnership (2007) - The study provides lessons from the experience of six early adapters: London, New York, Boston, Halifax, Vancouver and Seattle. The report outlines a systematic process for municipalities to adapt to a changing climate and provides many examples of municipal adaptation policies and specific adaptation measures and actions from the cities studied.
District of Elkford Climate Change Adaptation Strategy - Elkford was chosen as one of two communities to partner with Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) in a year-long community learning, engagement and planning process on adapting to local climatic changes. Elkford’s interest in the initiative was a result of the District of Elkford’s desire to see implications of future climatic changes incorporated into their Official Community Plan (OCP). At the time, no other community in British Columbia had attempted to integrate climate change adaptation in their OCP.
City of Kimberley Climate Change Adaptation Strategy - Kimberley was one of two communities selected to partner with CBT to pilot a year-long community learning, engagement and planning process on climate change adaptation. The city worked with the community to identify the range of potential climate change impacts they may face in the future, assess local sensitivities and develop adaptation strategies. Their project was built around three distinct phases: Learn, Share and Plan
Considering Climate Change In Your Community: A Start-up Guide for BC Communities (June 2007) - The guide provides specific questions to help community leadership and staff assess how to begin to approach the problem of climate change at the community level. There a number of examples of existing frameworks developed for the purpose of climate change risk assessment. Additional references and case studies for follow up are provided. This is a good resource that summarizes a lot of the relevant information on the topic.
Adapting to Climate Change: An Introduction for Canadian Municipalities (Feb 2006) - This publication is a tool that will help municipalities and communities develop a better understanding of adaptation. It represents a starting point (i.e. quick overview) for municipalities and communities that have not yet formally considered adaptation in their planning processes. Concise summaries are provided of how several municipalities have incorporated climate change into their decision making.
Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability Global Environmental Change 16, Smit and Wandel (2006) pp 282-292. - This article provides a general overview of the concepts we are discussing in adaptation to climate change. They distinguish between four types of research being undertaken with respect to adaptation. The fourth type mentioned, 'practical adaptation initiatives' (p. 285) is very relevant for local communities. It highlights the importance of incorporating decision making factors of the community into the adaptation planning itself in order to affect implementation. Moreover, it highlights the need for the adaptation strategies to be integrated into other programs and plans for sustainability.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - This link uses graphs and diagrams to give background on the earth’s climate as well as explaining both climate change and the greenhouse effect. Further questions are answered on the effects climate change is having on the earth and why.
BC Climate Exchange - This website answers questions on climate change science and impacts in specific reference to B.C. Questions are also answered on the Kyoto Protocol and solutions to climate change are discussed.
Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) - A general overview of climate change is given here from its definition, science and causes through to impacts and evidence of climate change.
Environment Canada - An overview of climate change in Canada and links to other related websites, including specific Canadian projects.
B.C. Ministry of Environment - A collection of links related to B.C. climate change, including B.C.'s climate change actions, emission trading, community-level actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, impacts and adaptation, climate change in BC and Canada, emission inventories, and education.
Federation of Canadian Municipalities -
NRC - How to conserve energy at home and in business - Learn how you can save money by choosing the most energy efficient appliances, vehicles and how to create or build an energy-efficient home or office space.
Climate Literacy - The Essential Principles of Climate Science describes how climate influences us - and how we influence climate. It was compiled by an interagency group led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and produced by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
Real Climate - Climate Science from Climate Scientists - This web page provides links to information on climate change for beginners to those in search of more in depth information. It directly answers some deeper questions on the characteristics of climate change and why it is possible for climate change to be predicted. This link explains in six steps why Carbon Dioxide is a significant problem without relying on climate models.
University of Washington Climate Impacts Group Site - Gives basic facts about global climate change and discusses specifically 20th century climate change in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) in terms of its impacts. It also predicts future climate change in the PNW and discusses planning for the future. This link provides more specific information on climate change models and discusses projections for future climate change.
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium - Formed by the BC Ministry of Environment, BC Hydro and the University of Victoria with the following objectives: To foster collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to research on meteorology, atmospheric science, climate variability, climate change, social science & economics; To channel & strengthen the capacity to address regional climate change and variability, including extreme weather events; and To focus research on public and private sector needs in order to provide the scientific basis to develop policy options.
Presentation on resources for municipal climate change adaptation (232.57 KB) - FCM Slides CB Adaptation November 2007
Climate Change Resources on Precipitation Patterns and Flooding (101.64 KB) - Provides a list of online resources and their web links
Funding Your Community Energy and Climate Change Initiatives (361.69 KB) - A guide to funding and resources for BC local governments (Sept 2007)
All Climate Change Workshops and Presentations
The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC), invites residents to two workshops from the West Kootenay Community Field School - "a series of free nature-focused ...
more.
Columbia Basin Trust, in partnership with the Regional Districts of East Kootenay, Central Kootenay, and Kootenay Boundary, are hosting four free learning sessions that will help local businesses and ...
more.
Columbia Basin Trust, in partnership with the Regional Districts of East Kootenay, Central Kootenay, and Kootenay Boundary, are hosting four free learning sessions that will help local businesses and ...
more.
The Communities Adapting to Climate Change 2nd Regional Workshop on October 14, 2009 in Nelson B.C. brought together local government staff and elected officials from across the Basin to learn about ...
more.
