FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018
WINNIPEG, MB — Today is World Town Planning Day and the Prairie Climate Centre (PCC), the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) are working together to ensure that planning professionals have the information they need to design climate resilient natural and built environments. We’re proud to launch two new resources about professional planning, landscape architecture, and climate change:
- a new guidebook explaining how to best use the Climate Atlas of Canada to make sense of climate model data.
- a documentary video showcasing how the planning profession is at the forefront of developing policy, capacity, and climate resilience within communities and environments across the country.
Planners, landscape architects, and other allied professionals play a pivotal role in preparing communities and environments for the lived realities of climate change. Their forward-thinking approach, commitment to sustainability, and widespread influence put them in an ideal position to address climate risk and build climate resilience.
The Climate Atlas of Canada is an interactive tool for citizens, researchers, businesses, and community and political leaders to learn about climate change in Canada. It’s also an advanced decision support tool for planners, landscape architects, and other allied professionals who are on the frontlines of building climate resilience within communities. Today’s launch of the “guidebook” helps unpack the functionality of the atlas and support its more advanced usage within the professional community. This tool is being made available at a critical time nationally and internationally.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the world’s primary resource on the state of climate science and its social, economic, and environmental implications – recently released their most startling report yet, entitled Global Warming of 1.5°C. This report indicates that it’s possible to limit climate warming to 1.5°C, which is now viewed as a critical threshold for sustainable life on the planet, provided we act within the next decade to be globally carbon neutral by 2050. The time for bold climate action is now upon us.
Given the far-ranging impacts of climate change, new collaborations like this one with CIP and CSLA will help us move, as the Prairie Climate Centre motto goes, “from risk to resilience.”
Important Information for the Media:
- Visit the new Planning page at: https://climateatlas.ca/planning-climate-change
- See the Planning video at: https://climateatlas.ca/video/planning-climate-resilience
- Download the Guidebook: https://climateatlas.ca/atlas-guidebook
