NWT communities group tries new way to tackle climate risks

The NWT Association of Communities is rolling out a new initiative that aims to shift what it says is often a piecemeal, siloed approach to addressing climate change risks.

The idea is to bring communities facing similar climate change threats together – alongside partners from governments, academia, industry and other groups – to discuss what they’re dealing with, what has been done so far and how to move forward.

The project, officially launched in June, is still taking shape. The goal is to pool resources, enable communities to learn from one another, and leave them better prepared to take advantage of funding opportunities.  

“It’s about building dialogue and momentum on the risks,” said the NWT Association of Communities’ Miki Ehrlich, who is spearheading the work.

The concept for the initiative arose through recurring issues like barriers, capacity challenges, and missed opportunities noticed by Ehrlich and her colleagues throughout many years of work at the association, known as NWTAC, which represents the territory’s 33 communities.

For the past five years, Ehrlich served as the association’s climate change community liaison, where she supported communities in their applications to federal climate change adaptation funds.

She described the current means of addressing climate change risks in communities as a “scattergun approach,” adding that each community is trying to independently figure out how to deal with risks like flooding, erosion, food security, permafrost decay or ice safety.

For instance, Ehrlich said, at least 10 communities are experiencing threats related to riverbank erosion but individually trying to figure out what to do.

Work on climate risks is also often done in an ad-hoc way, she said – assessments may be done in a patchwork of communities, by different researchers, using different methods.

Adding to the challenge communities face is high staff turnover and other capacity issues. When a community’s senior administrative officer leaves, for instance, Ehrlich said a few years can go by without anyone able to lead dialogue and initiatives on climate risks, which eats up precious time for dealing with urgent issues.

The new initiative – known as “risk-based partnership tables” – attempts to shift the approach.

Ehrlich and her colleagues want to create a central place where people who want to be involved in discussions about various climate change issues can gather to share information, find out what work has already been done, track progress, listen out for funding and look for opportunities to apply for funding as a group. Each “risk table” will focus on a specific climate change issue.

The NWTAC has applied a similar model in the past. Working with the territory’s forest management division, the association was involved in securing $20 million in federal funding last year to create fire breaks and manage vegetation in 29 NWT communities. The funding application built on community wildfire protection plans developed by the GNWT.

With the additional funding, the association said, completing fire breaks is expected to take eight years – rather than the 83 years predicted with GNWT funding alone.

Not all risk tables will result in group funding applications, Ehrlich said. They also might not be actual tables. Ehrlich is still working to figure out what the approach will look like in practice, but said it is likely to come in the form of virtual spaces.

Whatever the format, Ehrlich said communication will be central to the initiative. The approach is intended to be inclusive of whoever wants to be involved, including representatives from territorial and federal governments, Indigenous governments, academic institutions, industry and other organizations.

“Ultimately, we’re stronger together,” Ehrlich said. “Funders know it and communities know it. It’s just getting organized and having someone to facilitate the dialogue.”

Ehrlich is looking to hear from people interested in getting involved in the partnership approach. She can be contacted at 867-873-8359 (ext 3) or miki@nwtac.com.