Northeast Climate Resilience Network

Communities of Northeastern BC are working together to prepare for a changing climate

On This Page

• What is the Northeast Climate Resilience Network?
• Recent Initiatives
• Phases of the Network
• Reports
• Learn More

What is the Northeast Climate Resilience Network?

Flooding in Northeast BC in June 2016. Photo: Province of British Columbia (Flickr)

In recent years, communities of Northeastern British Columbia have witnessed a number of extreme weather events — and these are expected to become more frequent under a changing climate. Related impacts, such as flood, wildfire, drought and erosion, can critically affect the region’s infrastructure, economy and community.

There is an urgent need to prepare for future climate risk by communities gaining a better understanding of projected climate trends, identifying local vulnerabilities and planning for adaptation.

The Fraser Basin Council serves as facilitator and program manager for the Northeast Climate Resilience Network (originally called the Northeast Climate Risk Network). The Network brings together the City of Fort St. John, City of Dawson Creek, District of Tumbler Ridge, District of Chetwynd, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Northern Health. The Village of Pouce Coupe was a Network member in the first phase from 2018-2020.

Recent Initiatives

Climate Considerations for Asset Management Workshop Series

In Fall 2023 the Fraser Basin Council, Pinna Sustainability and the Northeast Climate Resilience Network hosted a two-part virtual workshop series on Climate Considerations for Asset Management. The goal was to support municipal staff from Northeastern BC communities to better identify, understand and plan for climate related risks to infrastructure and services.

Workshop series videos

• Asset Management Workshop 1 introduced the Climate Projections for the BC Northeast Region Report, and participants discussed recent climate impacts in Northeastern BC. Next, Kim Fowler, Manager of Long Range Planning, Energy & Sustainability at the Regional District of Nanaimo, presented an Asset Management Review & Refresher. Participants finished by reviewing FCM’s Asset Management Readiness Scale and completing an activity to determine their municipality’s readiness level in each outcome area of the Readiness Scale. Watch the video
  
  
• Asset Management Workshop 2 began with a presentation on Natural Asset Management from Emanuel Machado, Chief Administrative Officer and Resilience Officer at the Town of Gibsons, and Michelle Lewis, Natural Asset Technician at the Town of Gibsons. After the presentation and Q&A, participants completed an activity on applying asset management and natural asset management to local climate action planning. Watch the video

The videos, slides and other resources are also available on FBC's ReTooling for Climate Change.

The Network initiative was offered through the Municipal Asset Management Program, which is delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and funded by the Government of Canada.

Virtual Community Engagement on Climate Adaptation Pilot Project

The Fraser Basin Council and NECRN retained three UBC Sustainability Scholars ― Giulia Belotti, Margaryta Pustova and Madelaine Parent ― to deliver a Virtual Community Engagement On Climate Change Adaptation Pilot Project in the summer of 2022, in collaboration with the City of Dawson Creek.

The project aimed to raise awareness about climate risks and adaptive actions to the general public of Northeast British Columbia and to equip local governments in the Northeast with information on climate change communications and engagement.

The Project had two primary outputs:

1. a virtual climate change engagement best practice overview, including engagement tools, considerations for communication and case studies
2. a virtual engagement pilot project carried out with the City of Dawson Creek

Read the final report and see a related workshop Powerpoint slide deck and Flood checklist.

READ THE REPORT

Phases of the Network

First phase: January 2018 to January 2020

The first phase of the project, from January 2018 to January 2020, was funded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Climate Adaptation Partner Grant, the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, the BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the six local government/regional partners.

There were three goals:

1. Support the Northeast BC local government partners in preparing for a changing climate and understanding the associated risks and vulnerabilities
2. Collaboratively address climate risks at a regional and community scale through a peer network, and
3. Increase community, public and private sector awareness of the impacts of climate change.

Creation of the Network

A central feature of the project is a peer-mentoring network on adaptation and a project advisory body. The Network consists of the six municipal and regional partners noted above, the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium and Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions.

Regional Climate Projections Report

In June 2019 the project completed the report Climate Projections for the BC Northeast Region. The report, a collaborative project, offers those in Northeast BC regional information on general climate projections, precipitation indicators, summer temperature indicators and winter temperature indicators. It also highlights regional impacts related to emergency management, transportation and infrastructure, natural systems, and people and businesses.

Read the Report

Community Vulnerability Assessments

Each of the municipal partners has worked with a consulting company to develop community-based vulnerability assessments. The vulnerability assessments will identify priority climate change impacts for each municipality, outline the climate change adaptation work done to date for each municipality and identify the priority gaps in adaptation planning and implementation.

The Network is strengthening regional collaboration on resilience through improved communications between communities on adaptation and better knowledge transfer across organizations. This project is setting an important foundation of information on regional climate projections and community-based vulnerability assessments, to help Northeast BC local governments in adaptation planning.

Second phase: February 2020 to present

The current phase of the project focuses on:

• reviewing information gained through the project
• determining next priorities
• incorporating the climate information developed from the project into ongoing planning processes
• convening remote conference meetings for partners to discuss and share knowledge on priority adaptation issues
• exploring funding and partnership opportunities to strengthen the work of the Network.

There are three main goals:

1. Strengthen collaboration and peer learning on climate change adaptation in Northeast BC
2. Facilitate mentorship to offer guidance to Network members as they implement adaptation actions
3. Increase community, public and private sector awareness of the impacts of climate change and priority adaptation actions in the region

Reports

CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS

Climate change vulnerability assessments were completed for five Network partners. The Village of Pouce Coupe completed a community scoping project.

• City of Fort St. John
• City of Dawson Creek
• District of Tumbler Ridge
• District of Chetwynd
• Northern Rockies Regional Municipality
• Village of Pouce Coupe.

CLIMATE PROJECTIONS FOR BC's NORTHEAST REGION

Also see the June 2019 report Climate Projections for the BC Northeast Region.

Learn More

Please contact the Program Lead for the Northeast Climate Resilience Network:

Erin Pedersen | E: epedersen@fraserbasin.ca