The federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, wants to give Canadians a strategy for resilience in the face of climate change. He will begin a national consultation on the subject on Monday in Montreal.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Minister Guilbeault pointed out that his government’s attack plan to tackle climate change is deployed in two fields, one offensive and the other defensive.
All the measures, investments and regulations featured in the GHG emissions reduction plan presented in March are part of the offensive.
The defensive front, or resilience in the face of climate change, represents the strategy that must be deployed to limit human and financial harm, and anticipate the effects of climate change.
” We have entered the era of climate change, there are already effects in Canada […] Are we ready? Clearly, I think we can agree that we are not ready “
We need to have a clear purposeadded the minister.
Public consultations on the climate change strategy will begin in person and online next week and the government intends to use the strategy in early autumn.
Update the data
If we only consider the financial aspect, the insured damage attributed to extreme weather events in Canada has reached $ 2.4 billion for the year 2020, according to Toronto-based company Catastrophe Indices and Quantification.
Determining how many Canadians live in areas that are prone to flooding and how many are non -catastrophic still requires working with up -to -date data and maps.
A recent report commissioned by Public Safety Canada from the Council of Canadian Academies indicates that Canadian governments often make decisions based on incomplete weather data and old flood maps.
The consequences of using outdated data can be dramatic. For example, a municipality may decide to allow the construction of a neighborhood in a flood -prone area because the data it has has not been adapted to climate change.
Data is a critical part of any strong climate change adaptation strategyindicated by Minister Guilbeault, added acting without data is [agir] like a hen without a head.
The importance of a national strategy
He pointed out that the federal government could play a role in working with provinces and municipalities to update new flood maps, but then the information must be communicated to the municipalities and the municipalities must, in turn, send the information to the citizens.
Hence the importance, argued Steven Guilbeault, that all levels of government come to the table to participate in developing the national strategy for adaptation to climate change, emphasizing the word national.
We want to lay the foundations for this strategy, which is not a federal strategy, it is a national strategy; so we will work with provinces, territories, aboriginal people, municipalities and other stakeholders.
The report written by the Council of Canadian Academies, published in January, also emphasizes that better collaboration between municipalities, provinces and the federal government is needed to increase resilience to disasters.
Communication of climate risks to citizens is also lacking. For example, the report Building a Stable Canada pointed out that a poll in 2016 showed that only 6% of Canadians living in a designated flood -prone area are aware of the risk.
Defense by the natural environment
One of the ways to be more resilient in the face of climate change is to rely more on nature -based solutions.
Minister Guilbeault cited as an example the Grand Parc de l’Ouest, on the island of Montreal, which would be the largest urban park in the country.
This expansive park, which received an investment of $ 50 million from the federal government, is located in Pierrefonds-Roxboro and should cover an area of 30 square kilometers. It will be 15 times larger than Mount Royal Park and 8 times larger than Central Park in New York.
One of the functions, I would say almost the first in the park, is the ability to absorb spring floods, therefore to limit flooding problems in that part of the country.explanation of the Minister, stating that it is cheaper to invest in these solutions than to try to invest in technical, technological solutions.
Certainly ambitious, but at the same time, time is against us, natural disasters, more and more, so it is our responsibility to do the job well, but we also need to do it quickly.summary by Minister Guilbeault.
Source: Radio-Canada
