Current graduate students

As climate change continues to threaten urban and rural communities, water security challenges driven by urbanization will exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Tackling these ‘wicked’ problems necessitates collaboration across sectors, the integration of nature-based solutions and the exploration of synergies that prioritizes long term climate adaptation. Promoting water security in urban centres can help to improve social equity and increase access to water resources to foster more resilient communities in the face of climate change.

The Living with Water Theme Partnership is a four year, $1 million project funded by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solution (PICS) that supports research into complex and critically important climate mitigation and adaptation challenges along the South Coast of British Columbia (BC), which includes 20+ Vancouver area municipalities, the Fraser River Delta, Burrard Inlet and Squamish Delta. The goal of the project is to develop new planning and design frameworks and decision-making tools to help communities and ecosystems successfully adapt to the impacts of sea level rise, coastal/riverine flooding and shoreline erosion.

In late September, MEOPAR’s Response Core hosted an interactive virtual National Forum on Coastal Community Resilience: Local Government Initiatives to Address Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Flooding. The forum offered a unique opportunity to connect, share and learn about coastal adaptation approaches for Canada’s coastal municipalities and communities.

Does media coverage of a natural disaster influence public policy? How are Canadian flood disasters portrayed in the media?