The Government of Saskatchewan released its second annual climate resilience report on Friday, with a suite of measures that demonstrate how resilient the province is to a changing climate. The report covers five key areas: natural systems, physical infrastructure, economic sustainability, community preparedness and human well-being.
The Climate Resilience Measurement Framework, released in November 2018, is a commitment in the province鈥檚 Prairie Resilience climate change strategy. The 铿乺st resilience report was released in April 2019, presenting baselines and targets for 25 important measures. The 2020 report continues with reporting on status and trends for each measure.
鈥淭he Climate Resilience Measurement Framework and subsequent annual reports align well with Saskatchewan's new 10-year Growth Plan,鈥� Environment Minister and Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Dustin Duncan said. 鈥淭hese key measures demonstrate our focus on maintaining and enhancing a healthy environment that will support Saskatchewan people, communities and industry for years to come.鈥�
Resilience measures are assessed to be either good, fair or poor. Eighteen measures in this year鈥檚 report are classified as good, an increase from 15 in the 2019 report. Six are classified as fair, and there are once again no measures with a poor status. Most measures under economic sustainability, community preparedness and human well-being were deemed to be good.
For instance:
鈥� In 2019, Saskatchewan continued to increase its fuel management work on Crown land, thinning the forest around urban areas to help reduce the risk of wild铿乺e to northern communities.
鈥� Saskatchewan added approximately 700,000 hectares of protected areas in 2019, increasing its total to 6.4 million hectares. This covers 10 per cent of the province's total land base and includes representation from each of the province's 11 ecoregions.
鈥� Since 2019, all forest harvest designs must incorporate natural disturbance patterns (e.g. wind, wildfire, insects etc.), which is critical to maintain resilient and biologically diverse forests.
鈥� An additional 81 culverts were upgraded or replaced over the past two years to meet the new provincial flood standard. This helps ensure the province's transportation network is more resilient to extreme weather events.
Six measures in the report are classified as fair, providing opportunities to reinforce the province's resilience to climate change. This includes planned investments by SaskPower, which will further its renewable energy generation capacity and operational e铿僣iency, contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through 2030.
鈥淲e continue to see positive trends in many of the resilience measures,鈥� Duncan said. 鈥淎nnual reporting helps us better understand Saskatchewan's incremental resilience to climate change, and identifies where we may need to better prepare the province for a changing climate.鈥�
