Atlin Workshop:
Preparing For Change –
Managing Climate Change Risks in the Atlin Area
Contents
- Introduction
- Community-based Climate Change Adaptation Planning
- Summary of Results and Key Findings
- Community Workshop
- Next Steps
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1: Participants
- Appendix 2: Results from Weekend Breakout Sessions
- Appendix 3: Agenda
- Appendix 4: Presentation by Tristan Pearce and Dr. James Ford
- Appendix 5: Presentation by Trevor Murdock and Katrina Bennett
Project Objectives and Outline
Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to conduct a community-based risk assessment and adaptation planning exercise with the region of Atlin and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation.
Additional objectives include:
- Bring as many stakeholders from the community together to learn about and plan for climate change adaptation
- Link climate change researchers and experts with community leaders and residents
- Produce user-friendly report for the community and public access to results
- Forge new partnerships and projects
Outline
Three expert working group sessions took place over three evenings in late March 2007, in the week leading up to the community workshop. Each was made up of local experts or stakeholders with special interest in one or more of the three themes.
Session 1: Land Based Occupations and Traditions:
Fishing, Hunting, Trapping, Woodlot management, Watershed
and Land-based issues, Culture, Health and Well-being.
Session 2: Local Economy:
Forestry, Mining, Tourism, Recreation, Local Businesses
Session 3: Infrastructure and Planning:
Micro-hydro electricity, Energy, Highways, Sewage, Emergency
Services, Buildings, Transportation
Each session had anywhere between 7 and 16 participants, facilitated by Robin Sydneysmith, coordinator of BC’s Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network (C-CIARN) who led the group through detailed risk assessment and adaptation planning work around each theme.
Community Workshop
The doors of the Atlin Recreation Center opened to the public on the evening of Friday, March 30 and during the day of Saturday, March 31. What follows is an overview of the presentations and activities of the weekend. Please see Appendix 3 for a full version of the workshop agenda.
- What is Climate Change? (Katharine Sandiford, Northern Climate ExChange)
- Introduction to Adaptation (Michael Westlake, Northern Climate ExChange)
- Community Based Adaptation Planning Case Studies (Michael Westlake, NCE; James Ford, ArcticNorth Consulting; Tristan Pearce, ArcticNorth Consulting)
- Community Impacts Register: Collection of locally observed impacts
- Interactive Risk Assessment Analysis: Using the Impacts Register, prioritize and evaluate each risk, grouping impacts into categories, timelines and priority levels.
- Interactive Climate Impacts Modeling Tool: Scenario for Atlin Region (Trevor Murdoch and Katrina Bennett from the Pacific Climate Consortium, University of Victoria)
- Mainstreaming Climate Change: Incorporating climate change into planning and policy (Tristan Pearce and Dr. James Ford, ArcticNorth Consulting)
- Presentation of results from pre-workshop working groups
- Breakout groups
- Split the list of evaluated impacts between each of the groups.
- Assess each one individually and write down what we can we do as a community, what tools we can apply, what actions are necessary or possible?
- What are the barriers?
- Next steps?
- Discussion of next steps