Additional Tools for Adaptation

The following Tools will be transferred soon to the new Tools section of the Website.

Adaptation Planning Tools

Adaptation planning tools guide users from the risk assessment stage through to the identification and implementation of adaptation responses.

Land use planning tools for local adaptation to climate change

This document describes planning tools that are being used by communities to adapt to climate change. In addition, it provides information on decision-support tools and resources to help planners and local decision makers take effective adaptation action. A brief example of each tool and its use by a Canadian community is included.

Land use planning tools for local adaptation to climate change (PDF, 2.4 MB)

 

Changing Climate, Changing Communities: Guide for Municipal Climate Adaptation

This guide is intended to assist local governments in creating an adaptation plan to address climate change impacts on their communities.  Created by ICLEI-Canada, it guides users through five milestones from building a team to monitoring the success of the adaptations implemented.  It addresses the issue from a local government perspective and illustrates points with examples from various municipalities. It contains the main guide, a workbook for practitioners and information annexes.   For more information about the guide, please contact Leya Barry at ICLEI-Canada (leya.barry@iclei.org).

Changing Climate, Changing Communities (PDF, 12.8 MB)

Canadian Communities’ Guidebook for Adaptation to Climate Change

The tool guides users through a decision-process that combines sustainable development, adaptation and mitigation. The process involves the creation of a vision for the future culminating in the development of adaptation options with mitigation co-benefits. Canadian case studies illustrate the discussion.  The guidebook also lists examples of potential adaptation actions along with an appendix on various analytical methods used in the adaptation decision-making process.  The guide was created by Livia Bizikova, Tina Neale and Ian Burton, and is published by Environment Canada. For more information, please contact Ian Burton (Ian.Burton@ec.gc.ca).

Canadian Communities’ Guidebook for Adaptation to Climate Change

Élaborer un plan d’adaptation aux changement climatiques

This tool, produced by Ouranos for Quebec communities, discusses the need for adaptation and provides an overview of the expected climatic changes and impacts for Quebec as they relate to municipalities.  The tool takes users through a process that results in the development of an adaptation plan.  For more information, please contact Caroline Larrivée at Ouranos (caroline.larrivee@ouranos.ca).

Élaborer un plan d’adaptation aux changement climatiques (PDF, 6 MB)

English Fact Sheet about the document (PDF, 141 KB)

UKCIP Adaptation Wizard

The United Kingdom Climate Impacts Program (UKCIP), created the on-line Adaptation Wizard that takes users through a process to assess vulnerability to current and future climate change, identify options to address key climate risks and then develop a climate change adaptation strategy.

UKCIP Adaptation Wizard


Risk Assessment Tools

Adapting to Climate Change: A Risk Based Guide for Local Governments

This national guide provides a process to help users identify and analyze risks due to climate change as well as communicate the findings of the analysis. It follows a standard risk management approach and uses Canadian risk management terminology. The guide provides the method and helpful hints on the risk assessment process. It was created by Mark Egener, Jim Bruce and Robert Black. For further information about the guide, please contact Mark Egener (megener@primus.ca).

Please email Adaptation@NRCan.gc.ca for a copy.

Climate information for use with the Guide (forthcoming)

Infrastructure Climate Risk Protocol

The Protocol guides infrastructure designers, owners and/or operators through a process of assessing the impact of climate change on all or part of an infrastructure system in order to assist them in incorporating adaptation to climate change in its design, management, and decommissioning. A detailed overview of the process is available below.  The Protocol was created by the Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) and is available free of charge from Engineers Canada. Currently, users are required to enter into a license agreement with Engineers Canada to enable the organization to track usage of the Protocol and get feedback on its use.  For more information please contact: David Lapp at Engineers Canada (david.lapp@engineerscanada.ca).

Infrastructure Climate Risk Protocol

Information for use with Tools

Climate Information

Most tools will deliver useful analysis with relatively simple climate information. Seventeen regional climate information packages are in development for use with any of the tools on this webpage. They provide information on historical and future climate trends for major climate variables. Detail on methodology used to create these tables will be included.

For those who wish to do more in-depth analysis of past and future climate scenarios there are several sources of this information in Canada:

Climate Change Impacts Information

Considerable research has been done on climate change impacts on Canada.  This information was brought together in “From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007. The assessment highlights key issues facing each region of the country in a policy-relevant manner.