On June 25th 2020, the Climigration Network Learning Community hosted a learning session on building long term climate resilience through the use of planned retreat as a climate change adaptation strategy. This webinar brought together leading experts from the University of Waterloo, Gevity Consulting Inc. and Natural Resources Canada to discuss findings from an environmental scan focusing on planned retreat in the broader context of climate change adaptation processes in Canada, along with the identification of retreat triggers, sources of resistance and enablers of retreat in Canada and abroad.
Professor Brent Doberstein from the University of Waterloo and the other members of the Gevity team reviewed cases of planned retreat programs from 3 communities across Canada: Surrey, British Columbia; Lake Erie, Ontario; and Gatineau, Quebec. Doberstein and his team uncovered the state of planned retreat within the Canadian domain by analyzing proactive and reactive cases of retreat, and then identified practitioner-focused best practices of how to plan, structure and implement retreat projects in their communities. The study was conducted via document review and key informant (n=10) interviews with expert professionals in the area of planned retreat practices.
We followed up with Dr. Brent Doberstein to learn more about the project and its preliminary findings.
A home submerged underwater in the community of Pointe Gatineau, Quebec in April 2019 after the Ottawa River floods (Doberstein, 2019).
Q (CCRF): What is planned or managed retreat and where does it fit within the 5 stages of climate change adaptation?
A (Doberstein): Our project defined planned retreat as “the purposeful movement of people, infrastructure or land uses from areas at high risk of flooding, slope destabilization, storm surge, sea level rise and other risks made worse by climate change to areas that are lower risk or that are more resilient”. When working with communities on retreat, it is important to remember that terminology is of key concern to stakeholders involved. The five stages of the climate adaptation cycle are; (1) understanding climate change impacts, (2) assessing the vulnerabilities and risks within communities, (3) identifying and selecting adaptation options, (4) implementing actions and then (5) monitoring and adjusting. Looking back at the cycle, the action of retreat falls under stage (3) where the study uses the PARA (i.e. Protect, Accommodate, Retreat & Avoid) adaptation options framework. The PARA framework was established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide guidance about adaptation options such as planned retreat.
Q (CCRF): What is the current state of planned retreat in Canada
A (Doberstein): From the literature review study, the following themes emerged from the body of literature on planned retreat within the Canadian context.
- Reactive – Most planned retreat has been in response to disasters;
- Non-standardized approaches – Methods varied amongst different government bodies or agencies on what are considered good practices;
- Governments not aligned – More unanimous agreement is needed amongst tiers of governments on how to tackle planned retreat;
- Long timeframes – Post disaster retreat is relatively shorter as people need to be moved out of harm’s way whereas climate change planned retreat can be drawn out for decades;
- Terminology challenges – Different communities used different terminologies depending on what the community prefers and their interpretation of ‘retreat’
- Good practices are scattered – Practices were very context specific with factors such as; funding and the nature of the community influencing how projects were implemented;
- Increased citizen awareness and support – In both Canada and other developed countries, more citizen awareness and support for retreat has emerged as a result of high-profile cases;
- Often inequitable – Planned retreat is often viewed as inequitable since some benefit whereas others are left out, in cases of mandatory retreat there are many questions surrounding why some people are forced to move and why others are not;
- Driven by economics – Planned retreat is sometimes the lowest cost option compared to other alternatives;
- Second disaster from bureaucracy – The bureaucratic nature of many implemented planned retreat programs may be viewed as the second disaster after the physical natural hazard-related disaster;
- Health challenges – Physical, social and mental health challenges may emerge from retreat projects.
Q (CCRF): Can you highlight some Canadian case studies pertaining to planned retreat?
A (Doberstein): For the purposes of this webinar, we highlighted programs from Surrey, BC; Lake Erie, ON; and Gatineau, QC. The city of Surrey in British Columbia experiences recurrent coastal flooding, erosion and significant projected sea-level rise with 20% of the city located in a floodplain. In 2016 the city started its Coastal Flooding Adaptation Strategy (CFAS) and engaged with the community in a consultative process about the idea of proactive retreat (i.e. residential properties, infrastructure) across multiple locations in the region. Based on the first round of climate adaptation consultations, the idea of proactive retreat was rejected for now, and further iterations of the climate change adaptation cycle will likely follow so retreat may be back on the table then.
The second case study of Lake Erie is unique as it is a series of cases along a 70km stretch of Lake Erie which is experiencing severe flooding and erosion due to increased lake levels. Many shoreline communities (i.e. 400+ properties, roads, farmlands) are threatened under future climate change scenarios although increased lake levels are already spilling over onto waterfront properties. Lake Erie exemplifies a mixed approach of reactive and proactive retreat opportunities depending on the type, scale and degree of choice with the available adaptation option. Prime examples of retreat in this case would be residents being bought out through home buyouts and or roads being realigned due to concerns about erosion. Consultants Peter Zuzek and Linda Mortsch (an adjunct Professor at UWaterloo) estimated the cost of planned retreat for this region at $60 -$90 million dollars compared to the protect alternative (i.e. armouring the shoreline to prevent erosion and flooding) which was estimated at $600-$900 million dollars. Thus retreat is seen as a favourable lower-cost adaptation option.
The third case study of Gatineau located along the Ottawa River experiences recurrent riverine flooding. In 2017 and 2019, significant rainfall and snow-ice melt attributed to major flooding in the region affecting over 1,800 homes. After the 2017 floods, the Quebec provincial government began to offer home buyouts to residents in the Pointe Gatineau neighbourhood. The spring of 2019 brought on more significant flooding to those same communities who were still in the midst of recovery from the 2017 floods. The provincial government prohibited reconstruction on properties in the 1:20 year floodplain of Gatineau making the buyouts in those areas mandatory. Other neighbourhoods outside the 1:20 floodplain have the option of rebuilding with provincial disaster recovery funds (ex. up to $100,000) or accepting a voluntary buyout with compensation caps of $250,000. Gatineau exemplifies retreat within a reactive context as it was in response to the flood disasters.
Q (CCRF): What are some best practices that practitioners can take away from this study?
A (Doberstein): The following are good practices that can be used by practitioners looking to use retreat as an adaptation strategy within their communities. We used three categories to organize our good practices (1.Communication 2. Governance, and 3. Process)
- Communication
- Choose terminology carefully;
- Experiment, don’t be afraid to include planned retreat as a potential option;
- Leave plenty of time for communal planned retreat discussions;
- Consider the culture of the community;
- Phrase planned retreat in the context of adaptation
- Graphics engage audiences and can be used a tool to persuade people!
- Governance
- Pick and designate community leaders as advocates/champions of retreat;
- Manage the tax base;
- Expect delays in assembling, applying and being granted funding;
- Let communities decide how to implement retreat;
- Establish and fund a designated program for home-buyouts.
- Process
- Plan a future for the retreated properties and integrate it within the relocation process;
- Engage universities and granting agencies to help in assessing risks and vulnerabilities;
- Protect, promote and support physical and mental health;
- Adaptation and resilience building are a cyclical process;
- Be creative in retreat solutions;
- Consider overlapping disasters (i.e. COVID-19 & climate change) as a risk;
- Use an all hazards approach when identifying and monitoring risks;
- Plan and consider municipal, provincial and federal elections;
- Start Early!
This webinar is part of a larger project and report being produced by Gevity Consulting for Natural Resources Canada’s climate change adaptation platform which is a national forum bringing together key groups in Canada to collaborate on climate change adaptation priorities. Learn more about the project or the webinar. The final report should be available on Natural Resources Canadas website in Fall 2020.