Symposium: Managing Local Climate Risk

Managing Local Climate Risk was held in the City of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador from November 15-16, 2018.  Combining plenaries, panel discussions, and an interactive workshop, this one-day event had a specific focus on getting started with climate change adaptation and identifying local risks.

The themes that shaped the structure and content of the event included the following:

• Kick-starting community climate change adaptation and resilience initiatives through interactive mediums such as collaborative community risk mapping.
• Understanding and assessing local climate risks to social, natural, built, and economic systems within Canadian communities.
• Showcasing local leadership in resilience of local governments and practitioners from across Canada.

The event also represented a preliminary milestone of the Adaptation Changemakers Project delivered by ICLEI and funded through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Climate Adaptation Partner Grants available through FCM’s Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program (MCIP). The Adaptation Changemakers Project has brought together 8 communities from across the country to develop locally relevant climate change adaptation strategies. This represented the first of three in-person Changemaker project meetings that will take place over the next year and provided an opportunity and platform for participating municipalities to come together and network across different provinces.

Learn more about the Adaptation Changemakers project here.

Download the workshop summary below. 

Photos: St Johns Newfoundland by David Roberts