Climate resilience key in pandemic recovery

July 08, 2021

Apex (Inuktitut Niaqunngut) is a small community in Iqaluit located on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. Photo by Henry Baillie-Brown (iStock)

Apex (Inuktitut Niaqunngut) is a small community in Iqaluit located on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. Photo by Henry Baillie-Brown (iStock)

As Canada – and the world – slowly recover and rebuild communities following the global pandemic, climate change and climate resilience must be prioritized by all levels of government in these recovery plans, according to Western geography and environment professor emeritus Gordon McBean.

McBean is a long-standing contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization that was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2007.

Recently, McBean collaborated with interdisciplinary researchers from across the country, including many from Western, to prepare a report for the federal government titled, “Building Climate Resilient Communities.” Funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the report assessed the threat of climate change and how communities across Canada could proactively advance climate-resilience to effectively reduce the risk of adverse climate impacts, loss and damage. The report provides guidance and suggestions for the most important next steps for Canadian communities as they rebuild after COVID-19.

Read the full story by Jeff Renaud at Western News