Community Resilience
Albertans rely on native ecosystems to support their well-being; our ecosystems provide us with clean water, clean air and a sense of place, as well as supporting important industries like agriculture and forestry. As our ecosystems change in response to changes in climate, Alberta’s communities–and their local governments–will be required to make decisions that encourage adaptation to their new climate and environmental conditions.
There are a variety of ways that municipalities can approach climate change adaptation–in many cases, local governments are already taking actions that support climate change resilience. “Ecosystem-based” approaches focus on building climate resilience by protecting or restoring the healthy ecosystems that support human well-being, such as through food production or water purification. These healthy ecosystems contribute directly to climate resilience by moderating the increasingly devastating effects of natural cycles like flood or drought. Ecosystem-based approaches to climate change adaptation can have many advantages over hard infrastructure development.
Approaches that focus on building ecosystem resilience to climate change have the potential to achieve multiple community objectives through a single action. For example, a protected wetland upstream of a community maintains the resilience of the community’s water supply, while also continuing to provide critical habitat, store carbon and filter water. Because they have multiple benefits, these strategies are lower-risk in light of the uncertainty associated with predicting the exact impacts of climate change on a community. Though the benefits and costs of each adaptation strategy will depend on the specific nature of the risks identified by individual communities, ecosystem-based approaches are typically very cost-effective.
