Abstract
Local governments operate on the front lines of climate change given their role in emergency response and their responsibility for delivering services that are highly vulnerable to extreme weather. Effective adaptation of local government services requires significant changes to planning and operational approaches. Due to the size of their staff and/or tax base, however, local governments representing small or rural communities often lack the capacities required to plan and implement these changes. The Rural Climate Adaptation Capacity Building Project, delivered by Selkirk College in partnership with nine small local governments in southeast British Columbia, uses a regional approach to overcome capacity challenges limiting climate adaptation progress in participating communities. The project has advanced regional adaptation and adaptation readiness by facilitating relationships between communities. By joining forces, the communities have been able to access significant adaptation resources, including funding for adaptation initiatives, reliable climate science, input from leading experts on priority adaptation subjects, and leadership from a neutral, innovation-focused organization. Importantly, project participants have also shared with, and learned from, their peers—many of whom are tackling similar adaptation challenges in a comparable geographic, social, and political context. This regional approach has also met with drawbacks, including the scarcity of time that local government staff have to contribute to adaptation initiatives that are not led from within their own organization. This study reviews the advantages, disadvantages, and necessary precursors for success that the project team has discovered while working to form and facilitate regional partnerships focused on climate change adaptation.
Presenters
Lauren RethoretResearcher/Coordinator of Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute, Applied Research and Innovation, Selkirk College, British Columbia, Canada Jayme Jones
Researcher, Applied Research and Innovation, Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute at Selkirk College, British Columbia, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
Climate Change, Adaptation, Regional, Rural, Capacity Building, Local Government
