Climate change adaptation plans
40%
solutions to climate change lie in nature-based nature-based solutions.*
With a view to combating climate change and its adverse effects, world leaders meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris signed theParis Agreement on December 12, 2015, the main objective of which is to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of limiting global warming to 2°C this century.
Similarly, the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity(COP15) ended in Montreal, Canada, on December 19, 2022, with the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which aims to combat biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems and protect the rights of indigenous peoples, and to bring 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030.
A climate plan presents the risks and opportunities associated with the fight against climate change. It identifies priority projects to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, adapt to climate change and support the climate transition.
Habitat and Coop Carbone have joined forces to offer comprehensive, rigorous climate plans!
Thanks to its comprehensive expertise inclimate change mitigation, Coop Carbone is the partner of choice to support RCMs in quantifying and reducing GHG emissions. Their services cover the entire GHG emissions reduction process.
Habitat's expertise in sustainable land development enables us to draw up climate change adaptation plans that integrate biodiversity into the systems to be considered, and that favor natural solutions to optimize co-benefits.
Coop Carbone and Habitat are therefore delighted to collaborate on Climate Plan applications to best meet the needs of municipalities and communities.
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In February 2024, the Government of Quebec launched the "Accelerating the Local Climate Transition (ATCL)" program. This program offers an investment of $500 million over 5 years to Quebec municipalities that commit to implementing a Climate Plan on their territory. This Plan must be submitted to the government through the RCMs. (To learn more about the ATCL program, visit our Resources page.)
Essentially, the Climate Plans allow municipalities to project themselves to the horizons of 2041, 2070 and 2100. Canada's climate is warming at a rate 2 times faster than the global average. Climate issues are real and undeniable, and they will grow in the coming decades. A Climate Plan is therefore an opportunity for RCMs to have precise data on future climate hazards and to prepare for them as well as possible, but also to have substantial funding to choose and implement concrete actions at the scale of their territories.
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Carrying out a diagnosis of your territory is logically the first step in a climate plan, it allows RCMs and municipalities to then draft an action plan that corresponds to their reality and their needs.Â
For some RCMs and municipalities, this step has already been carried out in the past, for example with the creation of ecological portraits of their territories. These studies help answer strategic questions for land use planning, such as: Which areas are most at risk of flooding? What are the most polluting sources for waterways? Where are the carbon sinks?
To find out how to make an ecological portrait, go to this page.
This type of preliminary study, and the associated recommendations, can be used for the development of your Climate Plan, and offer avenues to guide the land use planning strategy and prioritize actions.
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Formulate specific objectives : At the end of the diagnoses or other studies you have, you should have a clear idea of the specificities of your territory. (geographical, administrative, population context or biodiversity vulnerability). In order to receive quotes that meet your needs, list your goals and expectations precisely. For example: mitigating canopy vulnerabilities to climate change and heat islands, while developing a planting strategy that equitably increases the land's canopy. The more specific you are about your goals, the more targeted proposals you will receive from service providers.
Carry out a consultation: the ATCL program aims to engage all stakeholders in RCMs and municipalities. The government encourages local authorities to bring together the actors involved in land use planning (partners, NPOs, private companies and citizens' collectives) in order to bring out a collective reflection that will be used in the development of the Climate Plan. The costs incurred in this process may be covered under the ATCL program.
Include a qualification document specifying what type of service you are looking for. For example, if you want to promote biodiversity and "nature solutions" in your area, you can indicate that the selected service provider will have to prioritize green infrastructure to meet the identified issues. It will also have to prioritize the areas where solutions are implemented so that they benefit local biodiversity (creation of quality habitats, selection of species favourable to pollinators, improvement of the connectivity network within the territory).
Get support : The FQM and the UMQ are working with the government to support the RCMs in the implementation of the ATCL program.
Find our full webinar on the subject under this link!
Vulnerabilities
to extreme heat and heavy rainfall
The case of the MRC Nicolet-Yamaska
In 2019, the Nicolet-Yamaska RCM adopted an ecological transition plan to guide the sustainable development of its territory.
In response to the challenges of biodiversity, Habitat was commissioned to draw up an ecological portrait of the territory, to report on the benefits offered by natural environments and the vulnerabilities to which they are exposed.
Creation of a portrait of the territory to identify biological and climatic vulnerabilities.
Analysis of the benefits (ecosystem services) provided by natural environments and in particular their ability to limit erosion, reduce the transfer of nutrients to waterways or capture and store carbon.
Connectivity analysis to determine key ecological corridors and the importance of natural habitats as habitat for animal species.
Modelling of three potential development scenarios (status quo, compensation and renaturalization) in order to compare the gains and losses associated with different land use strategies.
Analysis of biological and climatic vulnerabilities
At a time when countries are struggling to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to achieve carbon neutrality, it is imperative that we adapt our communities, our cities, our lifestyles and our natural environments to the consequences of climate disruption.
Many measures can be taken to strengthen the resilience of our societies and territories to the current and future impacts of climate change.
But some measures are doubly effective, as they also help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These are known as nature-based solutions.
*Source: Damian Carrington "Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' to tackle climate crisis", The Guardian (2019).
What can be done at municipal and community level?
Climate Plan
A study of vulnerability to extreme heat and heavy rain presents the vulnerabilities of an urbanized area to climate change and proposes recommendations for nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events on the population and infrastructure.
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In the current climate change (CC) context, Quebec communities are facing an increasing number ofextreme weather events, such as oppressive heat waves, heavy rainfall and accelerated thawing episodes leading to rapid melting of snow cover.
The flooding episodes of recent years have highlighted the limitations of traditional approaches to stormwater management and, more generally, grey infrastructure. However, it is now recognized that green infrastructure (GI), i.e. natural environments and vegetated landscapes, makes an essential contribution to the well-being, quality of life and health of populations, not least because of its role in mitigating the consequences of climatic extremes.
In fact, IVs help to capture runoff water and encourage its infiltration into the soil, reducing pressure on the sewer system and the risk of overflows and flooding. What's more, through evapotranspiration, trees cool the air by releasing water absorbed from the ground in the form of vapour, thereby playing a major role in regulating temperatures and combating urban heat islands.
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A portrait of past and projected climate change
Spatial analysis of heat islands and areas likely to be affected by pluvial flooding
Assessing the vulnerability of forest environments to extreme heat and flooding
Integrated planning of greening strategies and cost-benefit analysis
Development of greening strategies aimed at mitigating heat waves, reducing flooding and runoff, ensuring equitable access to the benefits of trees, and increasing the functional diversity of trees and the long-term resilience of the urban forest.
Analysis of the costs of greening and the benefits of ecosystem services
Would you like to know how vulnerable your region is to flooding and heat islands?
Would you like to draw up a climate plan?
Limiting global warming Ă
2°C
of territories under protection by 2030
To meet global targets, governments are increasingly investing in climate change mitigation and adaptation through government programs that subsidize studies to plan the implementation of natural solutions.