Water's connection to climate change adaptation

This summer I have been working as an intern with the Adaptation to Climate Change Team (ACT) based out of Simon Fraser University's Public Policy School. 

"ACT is a five-year series of six-month sessions on top-of-mind climate change issues that brings leading experts from around the world together with industry, community and government decision-makers to explore the risks and generate recommendations for sustainable adaptation".

Among many of the climate change topic areas (biodiversity, energy, extreme weather), I have had the fortune of working on the water session. This particular session focuses on water governance and water policy in Canada and how our governments (municipal, provincial and federal) can start working toward policy that is based on adaptation to climate change. Certain places have been more progressive than others - my job is to investigate why and how such critical lessons can be applied across the country.

What does adaptation mean, exactly? Well, in the climate change world, there are two really popular words that are thrown around; these include "mitigation" and "adaptation". Both words became quite popular when British economist Nicholas Stern released his 700 page report on the economics of climate change in October 2006.

In short, Stern argued that we can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through policies that support the development of a range of low-carbon and high-efficiency technologies. Further, we could use economic instruments such as carbon pricing, taxes and cap-and-trade to alleviate emissions. Adaptation by contrast (which has been less popular but is now emerging) is an approach where institutions can invest in technologies, systems and ideas that help us prepare for the impacts of climate change. These adaptation solutions are diverse but can be as simple as more efficient air conditioners that alleviate the impacts of heat waves, or floatable homes that, in the event of a flood, do not sink or lose their structural integrity. For those who are interested in the economics of climate change adaptation, please read Matt Kahn's Climatopolis.

Enviro Boys has written about adaptation in the past and will continue to do in the future given the salience of climate change. But from a water perspective, and based on what I am learning through my work, adaptation strategies such as water conservation or natural flood control tactics, while having higher upfront investment costs, the benefits and future returns on lessening the impacts of droughts, floods or even heat waves can be immense. In addition, getting people to think about the impacts of climate change can foster a collective and community oriented approach where groups think of creative solutions and where businesses and entrepreneurs start to innovate in response to the demand created.

More to come on how governments in Canada are thinking about this and what the opportunities are from a water policy and governance perspective.