Canada’s new national climate adaptation strategy will tie future federal infrastructure transfers to the provinces to projects that incorporate adaptation efforts starting next year.
“We all recognize Canada is not ready to face the impacts of climate change,” Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said as he presented the final strategy at a news conference in Vancouver. The Canadian Climate Institute warned last year that the country’s annual disaster recovery bills will be $5 billion a year by 2025.“If governments had listened to what scientists and activists were saying 25 years ago, we probably would not be where we’re at today,” he said.
It aims to reduce the health impacts of extreme weather, such as from extreme heat or wildfire smoke, make infrastructure better able to withstand major storms, and protect and restore nature in a way that helps make communities more resilient to weather extremes. B.C. has been hit repeatedly with major events, from the heat dome in 2021 that killed more than 600 people and led to wildfires that destroyed the town of Lytton, to the atmospheric river that caused catastrophic flooding in the southern parts of the province just a few months later.The plan separates action into several different categories including disaster resilience, health and well-being, nature and biodiversity, infrastructure and the economy.