From the Elk Valley to the world’s stage: Elkford’s plans to adapt to climate change will be shared around the world.

Elkford’s approach to adaptation planning, along with the recommended actions to adapt to climate change now for the future, is included in a new United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change guidebook Assessing the costs and benefits of adaptation options.

“This kind of international recognition proves that even a small community can be prepared for and adapt to projected changes in climate as long as you have active local residents,” says Pat Wildeman, who chaired the committee for Elkford’s integrated Official Community Plan and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in 2009.

The District of Elkford was one of the first communities to take part in Columbia Basin Trust’s (CBT) Communities Adapting to Climate Change Initiative which supports communities to increase their resilience to climate change impacts at a community level.

Elkford identified where the community is most vulnerable to changes in climate, evaluated the risks associated with the vulnerabilities, and then developed action plans to  address the climate  change risks. The District of Elkford was one of the first communities in the Columbia Basin to complete a climate change adaptation action plan and it is among the first in the province to seamlessly integrate both climate change policies and strategies into its Official Community Plan (OCP).

“CBT provided our local steering committee with access to experts and to robust climate science, and together we developed an adaptation action plan that will work in our community,” says Elkford’s chief administrative officer, Corien Speaker. “If our experience can help other small and rural communities around the world, that’s great.”

Elkford is now in the process of implementing many of the adaptation actions it identified in 2009, including developing steps to protect the community from potential floods and wildfires and updating its development bylaws.

Background Information

Overview: Elkford’s Climate Change Adaptation Plans

In 2008, the District of Elkford, with support from Columbia Basin Trust, initiated a review and revision of its Official Community Plan (OCP).  The OCP was developed to include climate change adaptation and mitigation policies and strategies in order to improve Elkford’s long-term sustainability and resilience to climate change impacts.  Elkford’s  work  included the analysis of climate change mitigation and adaptation impacts and options in order to include policies and strategies within its OCP. The new OCP Bylaw, adopted in May 2010, is one of BC’s first OCP’s to seamlessly integrate both climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies.

A case study on Elkford’s Risk Based Adaptation  Planning  was developed by Natural Resources Canada as part of their ongoing analysis of climate change adaptation in Canada, and submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for inclusion in a guidebook on approaches to assessing adaptation planning.

The UN guidebook  includes ten case studies  from around the world featuring  four different approaches for assessing the costs and benefits of adaptation option planning. The Elkford  case study highlights the risk-based assessment process used to identify and classify climate-related risks expected to impact the community and to determine potential actions that would minimize the impacts of climate change on the community. The case study also includes community-based adaptation plans (i.e. building new or upgrading existing infrastructure) and acknowledges the need to use forward-looking information in addition to historical information.  The case study also highlights the incorporation of  Elkford’s  climate change  adaptation planning process within existing community planning processes.

Elkford is in the process of implementing adaptation actions including  updating its development bylaws and taking steps to protect the community from floods and wildfires.

For more information about the local adaptation action plans, or to  review the case study visit the following websites.

District of Elkford https://www.elkford.ca/official_community_plan

Columbia Basin Trust https://cbt.org/Initiatives/Climate_Change/

Natural Resources Canada https://adaptation.nrcan.gc.ca/site_e.php

UNFCCC https://unfccc.int

https://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/nairobi_work_programme/knowledg

e_resources_and_publications/application/pdf/2011_nwp_costs_be

nefits_adaptation.pdf

District of Elkford

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