This two-day virtual event held in March 2021 brought together over 200 participants from across western Canada to build knowledge and relationships centred on rural climate adaptation.

Whether it is extreme weather, floods, or wildfire events, climate impacts take place in and around our communities - the places where we live, work and play. Distinct from large urban centres, small communities and rural regions have unique challenges and opportunities to strengthen local adaptive capacity and plan for infrastructure and economies that are both climate resilient and low carbon. Accelerating our progress to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world requires a new willingness to innovate and collaborate across sectors, disciplines, regions and jurisdictions. The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have renewed the urgency and opportunity to set an intentional path forward toward robust, thoughtful, and resilient solutions to the climate crisis.

Drawing on expertise and experience from across the province, this two-day knowledge sharing event highlighted some of the latest innovations and capacity building insights from and for small communities and rural regions seeking to increase their climate readiness and to plan for low carbon resilience. The innovative virtual conference design provided space for networking and active participation to help build and strengthen relationships and foster peer learning.

The Conference Summary is now available here. 

This event was hosted by the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute in partnership with SFU ACT and PIBC Kootenay Rockies Chapter. This initiative was offered through the Municipalities for Climate Innovation Program, which is delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and funded by the Government of Canada.