Kimberley looks at adapting to impact of climate change

With the government of BC having made action against climate change a provincial priority, municipalities are asked to come up with their own initiatives. The City of Kimberley has developed a number of programs already to combat climate change, reduce greenhouse gases and improve life in the community.

"There's no doubt that climate change is happening," Kimberley Mayor Jim Ogilvie is convinced. This is why Kimberley signed on to the Community Action Charter at last year's convention of the Union of BC Municipalities and is working on establishing a local climate action team. Ogilvie explains this group would make recommendations to help with creating a plan for the future.

Some of the steps the community has already taken are posting idle-free signs on city buildings and implementing a wood stove exchange program. The city is also looking at using bio-diesel for its vehicles. To take things even further and become a leader in terms of not only battling, but also adapting to climate change, Kimberley has applied to be part of a program sponsored by the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT).

Michelle Laurie is the Coordinator for the CBT Climate Adaptation project and says it will pick up to three communities from the Columbia Basin and help them in assessing the impact climate change has on them. CBT will provide resources and connect the participants to experts in the field. However, Laurie points out they are also looking for commitment from municipalities to have partnerships within their community. "The issues are vast," Laurie says, "It's not something that local governments can tackle on their own."

The Wildsight Kimberley-Cranbrook branch is one of the partners the City of Kimberley has supporting its application to become one of the communities chosen for the project. Ingrid Liepa is Wildsight's Clean Air and Climate Change Coordinator and says it was a natural fit for her to work on the project as one of the stakeholders. She praises Kimberley for taking a pro-active approach to the issue and being interested in making changes. "The right things are in place right now for Kimberley to move forward," she believes. Liepa says the project the city has planned would be based on three basic elements. First, information about the situation in Kimberley would be gathered, this information would then be given out to stakeholders and the community as a way to start the dialogue and dip into local expertise. Finally, the city would develop a climate change adaptation plan. Liepa says this would be a document designed to allow anybody to pick it up and see how some of the issues related to climate change could be best addressed.

Laurie adds that from a CBT perspective, it is important the communities selected for the project are willing to share the results. "We want to learn from this process," she explains. Even though only a maximum of three communities will be selected for the program, she says CBT is looking at ways to engage others in the future. "Based on what we learn, we hope to continue to roll this out."

Laurie states a total of nine communities applied for the project. She expects the chosen communities will be announced in April and by mid-April the communities will meet with the Advisory Committee and get the process going. To learn more about the CBT’s climate change initiatives, or to download research documents on what climate change will mean for the Basin, visit their website at www.cbt.org/climatechange or call 1-800-505-8998.