City of Vancouver Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2012

Authors

Doug Smith and City of Vancouver Sustainability Team

Publication

2012

Excerpt

Global Mitigation Efforts are underway to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but unless concerted action happens soon, further and more extreme changes may become unavoidable. Scientists project that Vancouver will experience increased annual precipitation and temperatures, with hotter, drier summers. More intense and frequent rain and wind storms are anticipated, and sea level rise will pose a significant challenge by mid-century. Adaptation refers to actions taken to respond to the impacts of climate change by taking advantage of opportunities, or reducing the associated risks.

There is significant overlap between climate change adaptation, mitigation and sustainability measures including those designed to improve greenspace, foster urban agriculture and facilitate improvements in buildings and urban infrastructure. Adaptation more explicitly engages a wider range of issues, particularly emergency management, health and the needs of vulnerable populations in a changing climate. Many existing City actions are already forwarding adaptation, and the focus of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy is to build on these actions and propose new ‘no regret’ actions – those that benefit the community regardless of the extent of climate change we eventually experience.

Strategy development began last spring and loosely followed the iCLei “Changing Climate, Changing Communities” guide. the first step included working with the pacific Climate impacts Consortium at UVic to acquire a detailed understanding of anticipated changes to the regional climate. Using these climate projections, impacts to the City were identified through interviews with general managers and working group meetings. impacts were prioritized through a risk and vulnerability assessment, and adaptation actions were devised and evaluated through staff workshops. the Adaptation Steering Committee provided final review and comment on the Strategy. implementation of the Strategy will be the responsibility of department staff with coordination and support from the Sustainability group.

The Strategy includes primary and supporting actions which are all detailed in a matrix in Appendix A, including accountability and priority. proposed actions were evaluated based on their effectiveness; overlap with sustainability and mitigation goals; cost-benefit ratio; and time horizon for anticipated impacts. they are prioritized into the categories of ‘must do’, ‘monitor’ and ‘investigate further’, with capital planning cycle integration for ‘must do’ items.

Primary adaptation actions focus on incorporating adaptation as a consideration or key driver into existing and planned projects. they include:

• Completing a comprehensive integrated Stormwater Management plan and continuing with sewer separation;

• Completing a coastal flood risk assessment;

• Amending flood-proofing policies;

• Completing an urban forest management plan;

• including climate change adaptation measures in the next Vancouver Building Bylaw update;

• developing a back-up power policy; and

• implementing water conservation actions.

The Strategy is a living document and will continue to be revised and updated as climate change science and adaptation practice evolve. As this is the first Adaptation Strategy for Vancouver, many of the proposed actions focus on increasing our understanding of coming challenges and integrating climate change into planning, design and emergency management.