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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT and ADAPTATION
ACTIONS and SOLUTIONS FOR HRM
Hurricane Juan was a “hundred year storm” in name only … with a changing global climate and warming ocean currents, a repeat is possible, if not likely… (Comment in A Report on The Response to Hurricane Juan, Nova Scotia Joint Emergency Operations Centre (JEOC) Team, Nov 2003)
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT and ADAPTATION
According to the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other leading climate change research organizations, climate change is affecting the public security, health, and well-being of people and communities throughout the world.
Examples of climate change impacts affecting our lives, include: air quality deterioration, climate-warming vector borne diseases, flood-related water borne diseases, temperature stressor illness (from heat waves and cold snaps), and extreme weather flash floods and hurricanes.
In HRM, Hurricane Juan in September 2003, and the one-metre Great Maritime Blizzard of February of 2004 (commonly referred to as White Juan) devastated the Municipality and severely impeded access to public services. These two events are generally seen as examples of extreme weather events that will likely increase in intensity and frequency with climate change.
The likelihood of extreme events (floods, storms) becoming ever more frequent and intense because of climate change, especially in maritime communities such as Halifax, demands an examination of:
- Our overall vulnerability and adaptive capacity within HRM; and
- The existence of appropriate HRM planning and management mechanisms to address the individual and cumulative impacts of extreme weather events on our vulnerability and capacity to adapt and have access to HRM essential services.
CLIMATE ADAPTATION ACTIONS AND SOLUTIONS FOR HRM
Joint Emergency Operations Centre or JEOC
HRM is the only Municipality in Canada to have Municipal, Provincial, and Federal departments responsible for emergency measures, co-located at a Joint Emergency Operations Centre or JEOC. This allows the city to more effectively respond to disasters, whether climate change - related or other.
Healthy Growth for HRM
HRM is developing and implementing a Regional Development Plan called Healthy Growth for HRM. This Plan covers four specific strategies:
- Growth Management
- Integrated Transportation
- Vibrant City & Healthy Communities, and
- Environmental Asset Management
HRM recognises that existing and future municipal assets (buildings, public utilities, services), and the consequences of their development decisions will last long into the future. Therefore, HRM recognized that any decisions about municipal development must incorporate climate change adaptation or Risk Management considerations to be more effective and responsive to HRM’s residents and industry.
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