September 26 & October 3, 2023
The communities of Northeastern British Columbia have recently witnessed a number of extreme weather events, and these are expected to become more frequent under a changing climate. Climate events including flooding, heat domes, wildfire, drought, and erosion can critically affect the region’s infrastructure, economy, and communities.
To support Northeastern BC communities to better identify, understand, and plan for climate related risks to infrastructure and services, the Fraser Basin Council, Pinna Sustainability, and the Northeast Climate Resilience Network hosted a two-part virtual workshop series for municipal staff across the region in Fall 2023. The workshops were facilitated by Pinna Sustainability.
The challenge of managing assets and infrastructure in Northeastern BC is being amplified by the impacts of a changing climate. These two workshops, based on a peer cohort learning model, supported participants to:
– Understand regional climate projections and identify climate related risks to infrastructure and services.
– Incorporate climate change into strategic and operational asset management planning and budgeting. This will help ensure Local Governments can continue to provide quality services and proactively make cost-effective and efficient decisions in the face of a changing climate.
Workshop #1 – Tuesday, September 26, 2023, 9am – 12pm PDT / MST
This workshop 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.
Guest Presentation by Kim Fowler
Workshop #2 – Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 9am – 12pm PDT / MST
This workshop 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 in local climate action planning.
Guest Presentation by Emanuel Machado & Michelle Lewis
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. We want to thank FCM and the Government of Canada for their generous support!
