Le Devoir – Émélie Rivard-Boudreau
Coasts are eroding, levees are breaking, sewers are overflowing, and the heat is unberable. On the front lines of climate change, municipalities have no choice: they must adapt to this new reality.
More than $2 billion for Quebec’ ten largest cities; double that amount for the province as a whole. That is the projected cost of adapting to climate change, according to a joint study by the AGÉCO Group and Ouranos, conducted for the Caucus of Large Cities of the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ). These figures take into account investment estimates for the next five years alone in the sectors of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater manangement, greening, and road infrastructure.
“Cities are already being affected, and it’s up to them to make their populations more resilient,” says Caroline Larrivée, director of scientific programming at Ouranos, the Quebec climate research consortium. Municipalities can plan their land use to avoid high-risk areas and adapt their infrastructure, but adaptation can go further. “They can also ensure they have a well-diversified economy to avoid being overly dependent on sectors that are highly sensitive to climate conditions,” explains the expert.
Adaptations variables
“The more a city has been affected—by a flood or a heat wave—the more proactive it will be,” notes Caroline Larrivée. Conversely, “in areas that have been spared and have less access to [research] groups working on these issues, there is less interest.”
As a result, adaptation is happening in small steps. This was one of the findings of a study published in 2017 by the Quebec Observatory on Climate Change Adaptation and the National Institute of Public Health. “People are increasingly aware of what needs to be done, but what we’ve noticed is that there are many barriers to action,” notes the observatory’s director, Pierre Valois. “Municipal officials will say they lack money, human resources, or knowledge, but that last point is becoming less and less true,” notes the professor at the Faculty of Sciences at Laval University.
Finding solutions
To better equip themselves, municipalities are working with specialists and increasing the number of training sessions and conferences. On November 7, for example, the UMQ held a forum to rethink land use planning in Quebec in light of the spring floods of recent years. “The current regulatory framework on flooding is unfortunately outdated and prevents the municipal sector from doing its job to providing appropriate responses to extreme weather events,” deplored Drummondville Mayor Alexandre Cusson, who was then president of the UMQ.
Nevertheless, Quebec is already supporting municipalities in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, notably through the $13-million Program to Support the Integration of Climate Change Adaptation into Municipal Planning, as well as the Municipal Climate Program – Phase 2, which has a budget of $40 million.