Northeast Climate Resilience Network

In recent years, communities of Northeastern British Columbia have experienced 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 (NECRN). The NECRN 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.

A new project is underway in 2025 to provide Northeast BC communities with the latest climate projections for their region and to teach community staff how they can use the projections in their work. 

The Fraser Basin Council and the NECRN are working with Pinna Sustainability, WSP and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium on a collaborative project (January 2025 – October 2026).

The key steps ahead are to:

• Update the 2019 Climate Projections for the BC Northeast Region report to provide the latest data and information on climate projections, including Indigenous science where appropriate.
• Engage Northeast BC communities, including First Nations communities, in the development of regional climate change impact statements which integrate an equity lens and Indigenous worldviews.
• Develop and deliver a training series for Northern BC communities in the use of climate projections in different sectors of local and municipal jurisdiction and create relevant guidance documents.

The new report is expected in 2026. Watch for updates and training opportunities!

This project will be carried out with funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund and the Government of Canada.

Learn more on FBC’s site 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.

The Fraser Basin Council and NECRN retained three UBC Sustainability Scholars 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.

Read their report!

The first phase of the NECRN work, 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: 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.

Community Vulnerability Assessments: Each of the municipal partners worked with a consulting company to develop community-based vulnerability assessments. These identify priority climate change impacts for each municipality, outline the climate change adaptation work done to date and flag key gaps in adaptation planning and implementation.

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

Top banner photo: 2024 Parker Lake wildfire | BC Wildfire Service