The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) has posted online Implementation Framework for Climate Change Adaptation Planning at a Watershed Scale. The framework provides a process to identify, assess, and manage or reduce vulnerabilities and risks stemming from climate change at a watershed level, and build resiliency within a watershed. The framework developed by the Water Monitoring and Climate Change Project Team of the CCME Water Management Committee (WMC) lists seven steps inherent to the process of adaptive management.

 

• Step 1 addresses building the climate change adaptation planning team and setting boundaries for the project;
• Step 2 addresses the collection of information necessary for the process;
• Steps 3 and 4 utilize the data and knowledge gathered to assess aspects of climate change vulnerability within the watershed;
• Step 5 responds to those risk assessments by building a portfolio of targeted adaptive actions;
• Steps 6 and 7 implement the risk-reducing measures and monitor their effectiveness.