Northeast Climate Resilience Network
Communities of Northeastern BC are working together to prepare for a changing climateOn This Page
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 has worked with a collaboration of municipalities in Northeast British Columbia since January 2018 on the Northeast Climate Resilience Network project (originally called the Northeast Climate Risk Network). As of 2020, the municipal and regional partners are 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. The Fraser Basin Council serves as facilitator and project manager. Recent Initiatives2023Climate Considerations for Asset Management Workshop Series — See Videos!
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 of these workshops was to support municipal staff from Northeastern BC communities to better identify, understand and plan for climate related risks to infrastructure and services. The workshops, based on a peer cohort learning model, supported participants to understand regional climate projections, identify climate related risks to infrastructure and services, and incorporate climate change into strategic and operational asset management planning and budgeting. The workshops included group discussion, guest presentations and interactive activities. Workshop series video recordings available soon!
Both videos and slides will also available on FBC's site ReTooling for Climate Change. This 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. 2022
Virtual Community Engagement on Climate Adaptation Pilot Project
In this context, 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:
The pilot project report is hosted on the UBC website. Of related interest, see materials from a recent UBC Sustainability Scholars workshop on personal flood preparedness: Phases of the NetworkFirst phase: January 2018 to January 2020The 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. The first phase of the project had three goals:
The first phase of the Northeast Climate Resilience Network project had three main components: 1) 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. 2) 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. 3) Community Vulnerability Assessments Each of the project’s 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 presentThe current phase of the project focuses on the following:
There are three main goals:
Reports AvailableCLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTSClimate change vulnerability assessments have been completed in the Northeast Climate Resilience Network (previously called the Northeast Climate Risk Network) for these partners: City of Fort St. John, City of Dawson Creek, District of Tumbler Ridge, District of Chetwynd and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality. The Village of Pouce Coupe has completed a community scoping project. Read the reports:
CLIMATE PROJECTIONS FOR BC's NORTHEAST REGIONAlso see the June 2019 report Climate Projections for the BC Northeast Region, a helpful resource for communities in planning for the future. Learn More
Please contact the Program Lead for the Northeast Climate Resilience Network: Erin Pedersen | E: epedersen@fraserbasin.ca |