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North Cowichan to implement climate-change strategy

“These climate projections highlight the urgent need for proactive adaptation measures”
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North Cowichan adopts strategies to deal with climate change.

A report presented to North Cowichan council at its meeting on Sept. 4 outlined the risk to the municipality of floods, wildfires, heatwaves, droughts and other impacts due to climate change in coming years, and provided a comprehensive strategy to help deal with them that was approved.

The Climate Change Risk Assessment and Adaptation Strategy, prepared by Urban Systems Ltd., pointed out that it’s predicted that the average temperatures in the Cowichan Valley, and across North America, will rise by 3 C by 2050, there will be warmer winters with less snow, more intense rain events, and longer and drier summers with more heatwaves that could have serious implications for the region.

“These climate projections highlight the urgent need for proactive adaptation measures,” the report stated.

The strategy’s focus is on adaptation planning that will ensure that North Cowichan is building local capacity to proactively avoid and reduce the impacts of climate change on the region’s communities.

The actions recommended in the strategy, with some costing as much as $5 million, are all considered a priority as they address the highest climate risks.

“The timing and associated costs for implementing the actions will be determined through each municipal department's annual business planning process,” the report said.

Coun. Christopher Justice pointed out that the report indicates that spending on adaptation measures is a good investment in that it will save North Cowichan money in the long term, and asked Jennifer Aldcroft, North Cowichan’s climate change specialist, to elaborate.

Aldcroft said it could be as simple as making sure the municipality has adequate fuel on site for emergency generators, or it could be more responsive, and referred to the atmospheric river that caused so much infrastructure damage in the region in 2021.

She said one example specific to North Cowichan was the damage to the culverts on Mays Road during the weather event which closed the road for several months.

“As a result, resources and budgets had to be diverted from other infrastructure projects in order to accommodate the repairs, so the work there resulted in the infrastructure being designed in a way to accommodate those increased duration and frequency of weather events which, in turn, should avoid the damage occurring in the future,” Aldcroft said.

Justice reflected that he watched the process of the preparation of the strategy for the last six years.

“It’s been very interesting to watch it unfurl over the years, and it’s a great feeling to see it at the brink of being adopted as a policy strategy,” he said.

But Coun. Bruce Findlay had a much more critical view of the strategy and questioned many aspects of it.

“This report ingrains a climate lens on every single decision, every budgetary item and every direction council gives staff forever,” he said.

“I have a massive problem with that when consensus of climate change doesn’t really exist.”

There is a consensus in the peer-reviewed scientific literature that the climate is changing due to human activity.

Findlay said he also takes exception to the fact that council has no idea at this stage of what the recommended actions, many of which will require substantial amounts of money, will cost.

“This strategy, on its face, would bankrupt our community, causing massive tax increases, if we pursue all of these mitigation actions in the short term,” he said.

“The strategy also assumes huge climate events, but this year and last year were average or less than average for flooding, fires and other emergencies. Maybe it’s all just cyclical after all.”

Council decided to implement the strategy in another tight 4-3 vote, with Findlay, Coun. Tek Manhas and Coun. Mike Caljouw opposed.



Robert Barron

About the Author: Robert Barron

Since 2016, I've had had the pleasure of working with our dedicated staff and community in the Cowichan Valley.
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