ClimateWest Forum: Building Climate Resilience

About

The Canadian Prairies are a hotspot for climate change —not just within Canada, but across the world. Being prepared, proactive, and working together is essential to building climate resilience in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

The ClimateWest 2024 Forum brought together a wide range of sectors, communities, knowledges, and perspectives from across our provinces. The theme for this year’s free, hybrid event is “Building Climate Resilience: Being prepared. Working together. Creating change.”

Sessions explored how to build climate resilience in an inclusive and collaborative way.

Date: May 8-9, 2024

Location: This hybrid event took place at the Delta Hotels Edmonton South Conference Centre and online.

Cost: Free  (includes admission to the Forum, meals and refreshments).

The ClimateWest Forum provided an opportunity for attendees to:

• Network in a shared space that promotes cooperation and knowledge-sharing.
• Hear from climate experts with a prairie perspective.
• Explore inclusive and collaborative approaches to building stronger, more climate resilient communities.
• Learn about the role of ClimateWest as the regional climate services hub for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

ClimateWest is supported by the Governments of Canada, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

Agenda

The forum organizing committee developed an agenda packed with prairie-specific climate experts.

Download the full agenda for a list of speakers and topics that were explored at the forum.

Key Takeaways

Over two days, we heard from 18 incredible speakers who shared a wealth of knowledge. We’ve put together this report to highlight our key takeaways from the forum along with a list of resources that were referenced by the speakers.

Presentations

We are pleased to share the presentations from the forum below:

Day 1

• Weaving Indigenous Knowledges to Enhance Climate Resilience, Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson)
• Climate Change in the Prairie Provinces: Observed Change and Future Projections (MB, SK, AB), Dr. Heather Morrison, Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Prairies Region Ecosystem and Biodiversity Changes as a Result of a Warming Climate, Dr. Richard Schneider, Nature Alberta

Day 2

• Change for Climate, Heather Wheeliker, City of Edmonton
• Regional Resilience, Jill Yanch, Resilient Rurals
• Common Horizon and For Our Kids, Adriene Konrad & School Climate Club, Lily Halton
• Mental Health and Climate Change, Dr. Sherilee Harper, Stephanie Olsen & Hannah Bayne, School of Public Health, University of Alberta
• Climate Change Preparedness, Nicola Lewin, EPCOR Water Services
• Building Resiliency to Drought, Andre Asselin, Alberta Water Council
• Risk and Emergency Management, Emmeline Marshall-Hill, EMH Consulting
• Cumulative Effects, Indigenous Rights, and Disaster Management, Dr. Timothy Clark, Willow Springs Strategic Solutions
• Communicating for Change, Amber Bennett, Re.Climate

Recordings

We are pleased to share the recordings from the forum through our YouTube channel:

Day 1

• Weaving Indigenous Knowledges to Enhance Climate Resilience, Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson)
• Climate Change in the Prairie Provinces: Observed Change and Future Projections (MB, SK, AB), Dr. Heather Morrison, Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Prairies Region Ecosystem and Biodiversity Changes as a Result of a Warming Climate, Dr. Richard Schneider, Nature Alberta
• Youth Engagement Panel
  • Jeff Zukiwsky, Associated Engineering
  • Hannah Bayne, University of Alberta
  • Austin Zacharko, SunGrid Solutions

Day 2

• Local Initiatives Panel
  • Change for Climate, Heather Wheeliker, City of Edmonton
  • Regional Resilience, Jill Yanch, Resilient Rurals
  • Common Horizon and For Our Kids, Adriene Konrad & School Climate Club, Lily Halton

• Mental Health and Climate Change Panel, School of Public Health, University of Alberta
  • Dr. Sherilee Harper
  • Stephanie Olsen
  • Hannah Bayne

• Preparedness, Water Scarcity and Emergency Planning Panel
  • Climate Change Preparedness, Nicola Lewin, EPCOR Water Services
  • Building Resiliency to Drought, Andre Asselin, Alberta Water Council
  • Risk and Emergency Management, Emmeline Marshall-Hill, EMH Consulting
  • Cumulative Effects, Indigenous Rights, and Disaster Management, Dr. Timothy Clark, Willow Springs Strategic Solutions

• Communicating for Change, Amber Bennett, Re.Climate

Audience Q&A

Our speakers received many insightful questions over the two days. Following the event, we reached out to speakers for their responses to those that they didn’t have time to address during the forum.

Sponsorship

We gratefully acknowledge our 2024 event sponsors and in-kind partners for helping us achieve our forum goals.  If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for future forums,  please email forum@climatewest.ca.

Forum Sponsors

In-kind Partners