Climate Ready Prairies Project

Project Overview

The Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) have been at the forefront of climate change impacts. From flooding, forest fires, droughts and unpredictable winter weather, climate change has made an already variable climate increasingly challenging for everyone. Yet adaptation conversations are not happening often enough in the Prairies. 

The Climate Ready Prairies project seeks to change this by helping overcome behavioural, social and cultural barriers to climate change adaptation action in the region. Structured as both a training program and a research study, participants will gain practical skills in strategic communications and engagement while also helping to inform the development of a Prairie region-specific communications and engagement training guide. An updated version of the guide will also be made available for broader application across Canada.

Training Program

The Climate Ready Prairies project takes participants on a journey to develop their climate communications and engagement skills from identifying audiences and crafting tailored narratives, to learning best practices for equitable engagement. Through in-person and virtual training delivered in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and supported by online community of practice meetings, participants will learn how to:

• Develop effective communication strategies tailored to identified audiences;
• Effectively conduct climate adaptation engagement with community members, Rights Holders, and other stakeholders, including those most at risk to climate impacts;
• Gain buy-in for actions that increase resilience to climate change.

Training Outcome: At the end of the training, participants will have a set of tools and strategies to be able to draft an adaptation communications and engagement plan unique to their audiences and goals. 

Research Study

This training program is part of a broader research project through Carleton University focused on understanding the challenges and strengths within the prairie region to design a tailored guide for effectively communicating and engaging on climate adaptation. Research methods include a landscape analysis, expert interviews, engagement with Indigenous partners, and feedback gained from the training and participant surveys. 

The final guide will offer key insights, best practices, and case studies, and will be shared widely to help build greater capacity in the region and beyond.

Indigenous Engagement

To ensure the respectful inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and priorities in this project, ClimateWest and Re.Climate are working with Indigenous Engagement Consultant, SevGen Consulting, to help facilitate direct engagement with First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizations and communities across the region leading on climate action and adaptation.

Project Audience

Individuals working in climate adaptation communications, policy or engagement. Target sectors include municipalities, Indigenous communities, all levels of government, watershed organizations, environmental non-profits, health associations, municipalities, agricultural organizations, educational institutions.

This training program is designed for one representative per organization working in climate adaptation communications, policy, or engagement. Due to limited capacity, it is invite-only. If you are interested in participating, you can send an expression of interest to anelson@climatewest.ca.

Project Partners

The Climate Ready Prairies project is a three year project delivered in partnership between ClimateWest and Re.Climate, Canada’s go-to centre for training, research and strategy on climate change communications and public engagement. This project is supported by Natural Resources Canada’s Climate Change Adaptation Program.