Adaptation Decision Making
These tools and resources aim to enable professionals to communicate the results of vulnerability risk assessments to decision-makers so they may effectively incorporate climate change adaptation into decision making processes.
| Organization | Resource |
|---|---|
| The American Society of Civil Engineers | Adapting Infrastructure and Civil Engineering Practice to a Changing Climate This report identifies that practicing engineers are faced with the dilemma of balancing future needs for engineered infrastructure with the risks posed by the effects of climate change on long-term engineering projects. This report explains the technical requirements of civil engineering challenges and approaches to adaptation to a changing climate. |
| Asset Management BC | Climate Change and Asset Management - A Sustainable Service Delivery Primer This primer is a companion document to Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery, a BC Framework. This primer has been written for staff of local governments. It introduces an approach for integrating climate change considerations throughout the asset management process. |
| BC Ministry of Environment | Sea Level Rise Adaptation Primer This primer aims to help coastal management authorities (mainly local governments) to identify and evaluate options for adapting to the impacts of sea level rise and associated hazards. It also provides an introduction to past and future sea levels, an overview of four different adaptation strategies, a recommended framework for decision-making and adaptation tools. |
| BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Nodelcorp Consulting Inc. and Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium | Developing Effective Dialogue between Practitioners of Climate Change Vulnerability-Risk Assessments: A Primer for Understanding Concepts, Principles and Language Use across Disciplines This primer outlines concepts, principles, and language terms used across disciplines that have lead to communication issues on climate change vulnerability-risk assessment projects. It may help professionals communicate the risk associated with climate change to public infrastructure owners and to colleagues within their multi-stakeholder team. |
| Canadian Risk Institute | Climate Change Adaptation Resource Pathway |
| Government of Canada | Canadian Climate Data and Scenarios |
| Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Working group II contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability This report is one of the IPCC’s many resources. It addresses climate change impacts that have already occurred and risks of future impacts. Chapters 14–20 address a range of topics including adaptation planning and implementation, which may provide useful context for adaptation of public infrastructure in BC. |
| Inter-American Development Bank | Addressing Climate Change within Disaster Risk Management: A Practical Guide for IDB Project Preparation This guide addresses risks caused by climate variability and climate change, and aims to provide guidance on options for addressing climate risks. This guide provides an overview of climate change risk assessment methodology and climate change hazards, and introduces and evaluates climate change risk management options by hazard and sector. |
| Local Governments for Sustainability Canada (ICLEI Canada) | Building Adaptive & Resilient Communities (BARC) Tool The BARC Tool assists local governments with climate change adaptation planning. The tool is made up of a series of exercises designed to assist communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change and helps set up the fundamental building blocks of a significant municipal adaptation effort. Changing Climate, Changing Communities: Guide and Workbook for Municipal Climate Adaptation This guide is a compendium of resources that provide a milestone-based framework to assist local governments in the creation of adaptation plans to address the relevant climate change impacts associated with their communities. Each milestone represents a fundamental step in the adaptation planning process, starting with the initiation of adaptation efforts and culminating with a monitoring and review process. |
| QUALHYMO | The BC Water Balance Model for BC is a decision support tool tailored to multiple levels of users that helps communities create neighborhoods that integrate both good planning and innovative engineering design. The climate change module simulates the effects of climate change on local drainage for ten stations in BC. |
| Adaptation to Climate Change Team, Simon Fraser University | Paying for Urban Infrastructure Adaptation in Canada: An Analysis of Existing and Potential Economic Instruments for Local Governments This report identifies and analyzes the applications and suitability of funding sources available to Canadian local governments for urban climate change adaptation, as well as innovative measures that may be implemented in the future. This report highlights internal sources for adaptation investments at the local level and external sources of revenue for infrastructure adaptation. |
| Transport Canada and Natural Resources Canada | Climate Risks and Adaptation Practices for the Canadian Transportation Sector 2016 Co-lead by Transport Canada and Natural Resources Canada, this report presents transportation decision-makers and practitioners, the current state of knowledge about climate risks to the Canadian transportation sector, and provides them with information intended to support enhanced resilience to climate risks, while also serving as a knowledge foundation for future research. |
| Adaptation Clearinghouse | US Federal Highway Administration Adaptation Clearinghouse |
| West Coast Environmental Law | Preparing for Climate Change: An Implementation Guide for Local Governments in British Columbia This guide is designed to assist local government elected officials and staff to plan and act in ways that will make their communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. By identifying emerging practices that may be modified to fit local circumstances, this guide aims to help local governments better understand the scope and nature of the challenge that a changing climate presents. |
| Professional Association Adaptation Working Group | Matters to Consider: Planting Trees to Tackle Climate Change? The article's focus is upon the current worldwide fixation on the potential of trees in capturing carbon and the desire by many to plant millions, billions, trillions (depending upon the media source, country, organization) of trees as ‘the answer’ to a warming planet. The authors’ caution, by way of the article, of the human tendency to opt for the ‘quick fix’/’easy win’, largely void of thoughtful and strategic actions, and often ignoring the knowledge and experience to date with specific measures. The article asks critical questions that are worthy of an audience for contemplation and dialogue as we continue to work together to address the impacts of the changing climate. |