Forestry Adaptation Practitioners’ Network (FAPN) Community Roundtable #1

Summary

This resource was submitted by the Climate Risk Institute for use by the CanAdapt Climate Change Adaptation Community of Practice.

The Forestry Adaptation Practitioners’ Network (FAPN) hosted a virtual Community Roundtable on July 24, 2023,bringing the FAPN community together, to exchange ideas, share what they are working on, discuss challenges and learn from each other’s experiences. It provided an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals passionate about advancing the resilience of our forests against climate change impacts. The intended outcome is a strengthened sense of community, where members make connections and broaden their professional network.

This event featured a presentation by Cheryl Evans, Director, Flood and Wildfire Resilience at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation who will share information on the suite of resources developed in collaboration with FireSmart Canada that are designed to increase resilience to wildfires across Canada.

We also heard from four fellow FAPN members who shared information about projects focused on climate resilience in the forestry sector. This includes:

1. Colin Rankin (Environment and Climate Specialist at the University of Waterloo) provided an overview of the Flood Impacts, Carbon Pricing, and Ecosystem Sustainability (FINCAPES) project with funding provided by Global Affairs Canada. The adaptation component to this 5+ year project focuses on bolstering Indonesia’s ambitious efforts to restore carbon sinks by helping to protect and rehabilitate critical peatland and mangrove ecosystems.

2. Richard Carr (Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada) described the National Fire Weather Forecasts available through the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS), which monitors fire danger conditions and fire occurrence across Canada. Daily weather conditions are collected from across Canada and used to produce fire weather and fire behaviour maps. A copy of his presentation slides are available, below.

3. Matt Kurowski (Research Engineer, FPInnovations), shared information about the Climate Vulnerability Forest Management Toolwhich summarizes climate change information most relevant to BC forestry operations. The tool contains historical and projection period climate change maps for six types of climate events to which forest operations are vulnerable; anda list of the types of forest operations that are vulnerable to climate events, along with examples of various types of adaptation measures used by BC forest operations. Matt and his team are looking to expand the map outside of BC and are interested in collaborating with others to help inform the data and adaptation strategies. Reach out to @MKurowski if you’re interested in connecting!

4. Jade Schofield (Senior Advisor, Climate Risk and Resilience, WSP Golder) shared information about WSP’s wildfire exposure mapping project with the Halifax Regional Municipality. This project examined the natural forest cover and it’s conditions on the ground to assess exposure to wildfire. Three time horizons were applied to understand vulnerability to projected climate change. Jade also described an upcoming research study by the Ontario Urban Forest Council that involves an in-depth assessment of municipal climate policies related to urban forest with the aim of creating an open forest policy atlas, which will also focus on climate forestry policy. The tool is intended to be a live database where other jurisdictions can access it and upload their own data. If any members here have any contacts, or are interested themselves in getting involved, please reach out to Jade.