Originally published in Water News (vol. 43, no. 2) Spring 2024, Canadian Water Resources Association
Organizations, industry, and communities are recognizing that planning for the future needs to be done differently. Whether it is motivated by experiencing impacts from extreme weather events firsthand or recognizing there are sig nificant climate, environmental, regulatory, business, and operational changes (and surprises!) lying ahead, there is a growing need for information and support to help them navigate these changes. From designing infrastructure to creating budgets to serving residents, climate change adaptation has a role to play. While the production of scientific knowledge, frameworks, and data continues to increase to respond to adapta tion needs, many practitioners expected to make use of this new information have not been supported with the training, mentoring, and extra capacity required to take on this new layer of work.
Climate services organizations, such as CLIMAtlantic, have emerged as a tool to help facilitate access to regionally relevant climate information and support its effective use in planning and decision making. It is part of a Canadian network of climate hubs in part nership with Canadian Centre for Climate Services, which includes Ouranos, the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, ClimateWest, and the Ontario Resource Centre for Climate Adaptation. CLIMAtlantic is a non-profit organization that provides free adaptation services and resources, including support with climate data and information, to organizations, communities, and residents in the Atlantic region. Examples of past work are provided below.
Engaging with communities and stakeholders
Climate change impacts are felt differently by each individual resident, community, group, or sector, and their ability to respond also varies. This makes discus sion and conversations on what the challenges are and how they are affecting them, adaptation goals they have, and approaches that may work best for them, a very important component in this work. By using facili tation and engagement as a tool, CLIMAtlantic has supported collaborative initiatives such as connecting partners to each other for funding proposals; attend ing public meetings with residents, municipal staff, and councillors to hold conversations on rebuilding after extreme storm events; and co-developing new approaches and solutions that address climate impacts and immediate pressures such as economic, social, and environmental risks.
Developing and using regional resources
Public and private property owners (individuals, businesses, or communities) concerned about climate impacts such as flooding may not have the capacity or resources to assess the risks and response options themselves nor commission a site-specific study. In these cases, regionally developed resources can provide valuable information, data and insights. CLIMAtlantic has supported decision-makers in identifying and navigating climate projections and flood and erosion hazard maps to support adaptation planning. It also worked with experts in coastal engineering, land use planning, and geomorphology to update and make publicly available the user-friendly Coastal Adaptation Toolkit. CLIMAtlantic helps coastal communities and property owners identify and assess suitable adaptation options for their flooding and erosion issues. This tool runs users through a series of simple questions about their coastal property, providing a list of adaptation options and their suitability ranking based on their answers. The toolkit also includes guidance documents that discuss considerations of how to choose among potential options, with details about estimated cost, regulatory constraints, and other relevant considerations to keep in mind.
CLIMAtlantic hired East Coast Environmental Law to prepare a document helping municipalities explore legal considerations around considering, managing, and disclosing flood risks. This is a dynamic area of law and most municipalities in the region do not have the resources to invest in this work on their own. The document is publicly available, and a webinar was hosted to give municipal staff and elected officials an opportunity to ask questions.
Making sense of data and information
Since more and more climate projections become publicly available through free data portals, it has become challenging for decision makers to know which to use for what purpose. Not only are there different sources for similar data, the similarities and differences among them are not easily understood nor presented. CLIMAtlantic works with individuals, organizations, and communities to identify information and resources most relevant for their questions and concerns around climate impacts. Taking into account factors such as the nature of the climate change hazards, vulnerability of human and ecological systems, timescale of the issue, and how the climate change hazards interact with economic, social, and environmental conditions, CLIMAtlantic supports the appropriate choice of up-to-date and relevant climate data and adaptation approaches to make decisions and reduce risk.
Moving forward together
To help increase the overall capacity in the Atlantic region, CLIMAtlantic is providing training and skill development opportunities so more individuals, municipal staff, and other professionals can embed climate change considerations and adaptation in their ongoing work. Aside from courses and workshops, opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and support through communities of practice will be made available.
CLIMAtlantic connects interested individuals, organizations and agencies with other practitioners, collaborators, and clients in the region through its Networking Map. The resources within its Adaptation Library and funding opportunities page may also be helpful. If you have any questions about CLIMAtlantic’s services, tools, or training opportunities, please send a note to its Help Desk!
