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Canada’s minister of energy and natural resources was in Port Coquitlam this morning, Nov. 14, to announce $7 million for a dozen B.C. projects to address climate change, including one in Burnaby.

Jonathan Wilkinson joined Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam Liberal MP Ron McKinnon and some recipients at the Port Coquitlam Community Centre for the funding news to support the provincial work and for projects with a national reach under the Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP) and the Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities (CRCC) Program.

Highlighting the recent atmospheric rivers, of which one last month killed two , Wilkinson said the projects — as well as the 41 others across Canada — will aim to reduce climate change risks and “will save lives.”

“Climate change is affecting our community, our health and our quality of life,” McKinnon said.

With the federal election taking place next year, Wilkinson also used the stop to comment on his party’s commitment to science-based issues, a pledge “not shared by all political leaders in Canada,” he said.

Wilkinson told the Tri-City News that some project funding has already been distributed to the 12 organizations in B.C.

Representatives from ICLEI Canada, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the Emergency Planning Secretariat were at today’s news conference to talk about their work and thank the federal government for the grants.

Wilkinson dives into 2 of the 12 projects based in B.C. that were approved for Ottawa’s latest funding to adapt to climate change |

— Tri-City News (@TriCityNews)

CCAP money

Natural Resources Canada is paying for seven projects under the CCAP:

• Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (Burnaby), “Development of a Climate Resiliency Training Program for Building Sector Professionals”
  • $366,841
  • The project will build the capacity of building sector professionals to integrate climate change adaptation into their practice through the development and delivery of training course and a guidance document on climate change resiliency.
• SFU (Vancouver), “Wildfire and Forest Industry Dialogue Series”
  • $500,001
  • The project will accelerate implementation of adaptation measures in the forest sector by addressing barriers to wildfire risk reduction and landscape fire management strategies.
• ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (Management) Inc., “Using Economic Tools to Advance Adaptation”
  • $400,000
  • The project will involve engaging a wide variety of professionals seeking to apply economic tools to advance community-wide resilience and working with them to implement and refine two existing practitioner-developed tools to support adaptation decision-making: the Cost of Doing Nothing (CODN) Toolbox and the Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Guide.
• Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society, “Valuing and Restoring Cultural Heritage in a Changing Climate: An Indigenous Approach to Natural Capital Valuation to Support Indigenous-led Climate Adaptation”
  • $292,800
  • The project will augment traditional cumulative effects approaches to develop and apply a novel cultural ecosystem services–valuation approach to conduct a holistic, Indigenous-centred cost-benefit analysis of priority climate change adaptation pathways.
• Fraser Basin Council Society, “Bolstering Community Capacity in Integrating Climate Risk into Renewable Energy Project Planning”
  • $255,118
  • The project will enhance the resilience of low-carbon energy systems in Canada.
• HeronBridge Consulting Inc., “Building Capacity for Community Climate Resilience”
  • $231,000 
  • The project will build capacity to act on adaptation and enhance resilience by developing and delivering a capacity-building program, a series of learning and dialogue sessions and a resources guide that will target Indigenous communities and organizations and small, mid-sized, rural and remote communities in B.C.
• ESSA Technologies Ltd., “Strengthening the Business Case: Information and Guidance to Value the Co-Benefits of Nature-Based Adaptation”
  • $195,955 
  • The project will develop a compendium of monetary values and simple guidance for the range of co-benefits arising from different nature-based solutions for reducing climate risk to enhancing climate resilience of Canadian communities, and will apply these values to conduct four Canadian case studies.

CRCC money

As well, the federal ministry is funding five projects under the CRCC:

• Emergency Planning Secretariat, “Lifelines in the Fraser Estuary: Taking Care of Each Other for a Climate Resilient Future”
  • $1,791,265
  • The project will develop priority adaptation actions and address climate risks from sea level rise, flooding and erosion to local essential services across the Fraser River Estuary.
• ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (Management) Inc., “British Columbia Southern Coastal Regional Climate Adaptations Collaborative”
  • $1,557,900
  • The project will address regional climate risks related to flooding, extreme weather and sea level rise within the southern coast of British Columbia by co-developing a climate adaptation action plan and a short-term implementation plan.
• Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, “Climate Adaptation Planning Project”
  • $1,427,125
  • The project will develop a climate adaptation plan for the Port of Vancouver that builds on substantial regional and port authority efforts to respond to climate change risks to port infrastructure and operations.
• Regional District of Nanaimo, “Coastal Climate Adaptation Strategy”
  • $310,750
  • The project will leverage previous modelling research of coastal flood hazards and risk assessments to support coastal climate resilience planning in the Regional District of Nanaimo.
• Aspen Global Change Institute, “Global Leading Practices to Advance Coastal Adaptation in Canadian Communities”
  • $99,253
  • The project will share global leading practices from the United States, New Zealand/Australia, Latin America and Caribbean, and Asia related to regional-scale and integrated adaptation actions to inform solutions to sea level rise and related climate change challenges identified by Canadian practitioners.

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