Abstracts

Municipal Risk Management for Climate Change

James Bruce¹, Mark Egener and David Noble
¹Global Change Strategies International
jpbruce@sympatico.ca

Four developments have converged to make it timely to adopt a Risk Management approach to climate change adaptation in municipalities across Canada.
These are:

1. successful modification of Canadian Standards Association's Risk Management Guidelines to address adaptation to climate change in the Caribbean.
2. improved science of climate projections, impacts and adaptation in regions of Canada,
3. increased awareness and knowledge by Canadian municipal officials of potential climate change impacts,
4. demonstrated success in training for risk-based approaches to adaptation decision-making through a series of C-CIARN workshops

To take advantage of this convergence, Global Change Strategies International (GCSI) is undertaking a major project to develop Risk Management Guidelines to address municipal climate change adaptation needs in Canada. This is being done through workshops in one region (Ontario) involving municipal officials to assist in the design of the new Guidelines. Capacity building for these officials in the use of the technique is also a product of the workshops. Further testing of the Guidelines and training is being undertaken in a second region. The initial results of this project will be reported in this presentation. The presentation will also include references to lessons learned during the various C-CIARN workshops and in the Caribbean.

2005-04-05