Climate Change Adaptation Project
Watershed Stewardship for a Changing Climate – Community-Based Climate Action
With support from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), SAW is beginning the process of developing watershed-based climate change adaptation plans throughout Saskatchewan – for each watershed district, as well as a provincial-wide plan (see map).
With future changes in precipitation (i.e., patterns and variability), temperature (i.e., maximum and minimum temperatures), and extreme events (i.e., droughts and floods), the ability of watersheds to provide water and other critical watershed services will be impacted. Regionally, communities need to understand what climate change issues that they face, and how they can proactively adapt.
The climate change adaptation planning process will help to build each community’s capacity to adapt to climate change impacts and effects by bringing together community members and leadership to develop a plan for adaptation to future climate change.
Over the course of the project, committee members and attendees will participate in various engagement meetings and activities to identify the local effects and impacts of climate change and discuss ways to adapt and become more resilient to these changes.
We will focus our discussion on four topics: natural systems, human health, cultural resources/economic activity, and community infrastructure. Our goal is to ensure we have diverse representation from all communities throughout Saskatchewan.
This project has the following objectives:
- Develop 6 climate-change adaptation plans across Saskatchewan’s entirety (5 regional district plans, and 1 provincial wide plan) that can aid communities to become more adaptive and resilient to climate-change related risks.
- Build capacity and provide education and awareness to youth, urban and rural communities, Indigenous communities, government, and industry about climate changes and demonstrate how we can work together to reduce climate change impacts.
- Develop and implement 6 climate adaptation demonstration sites that will showcase climate change adaptation Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) that rural and urban communities can adopt to reduce climate change impacts (i.e., cover cropping management, rotational grazing systems, food forests, floating wetlands, green infrastructure, etc.). Demonstration field days will be organized for the public to tour and collect information. Professional videos will be completed at each demonstration site and uploaded to SAW’s website and social media platforms for the public to access.
- Promote the outcomes of the plans to communities, government, Indigenous communities, and stakeholders.
- Provide completed watershed district–based climate change adaptation plans on the SAW and stakeholder websites.
While Saskatchewan has a naturally variable semi-arid climate, climate model projections for the Canadian Prairies suggest warming temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and an increase in the frequency and magnitude of extreme events. Agricultural producers and communities will need to build resiliency and adapt to changing climatic conditions.
With support from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), SAW will showcase a series of climate change adaptation demonstration sites. In the first video of this series, Saskatchewan Producer, Aaron Gray, and Dr. David Sauchyn, PARC – University of Regina, discuss the importance of adaptation and the benefits of best management practices (BMPs) that can be adopted to build resiliency.
