Adaptation to Climate Change in Canada: A Multi-level Mosaic

Abstract

The necessity for adaptation is now widely recognized in Canada. However, the developing pattern of response is an expanding mosaic. Individual pieces – i.e., initiatives at the provincial, territorial, and municipal levels – are visible, but the overall strategic design is lacking clarity and cohesion. This is likely due, in part, to Canada’s federalism, and to the conceptualization of adaptation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The negotiations leading to the UNFCCC conceived of adaptation as largely a place-based and local matter; of concern only to those most vulnerable communities and countries. In consequence, a bottom-up approach was viewed as the preferred option. Over the life of the UNFCCC, adaptation has grown in significance and has come to be seen as requiring top-down strategic approaches. A major challenge now facing Canada – and indeed all Parties to the Convention – will be the effective and simultaneous management and coordination of both top-down and bottom-up approaches. Currently, in Canada, the blend has been allowed to evolve almost unguided, with modest encouragement from the federal government. Leadership has emerged at both provincial and municipal levels across the country. But it is not clear what the consequences of such an approach will be.