Preserve green infrastructure so it can preserve us

This summer's heat dome made international news, showing the world what a couple weeks of extreme high temperatures can do to communities and more than a billion seashore animals. During that same week, Toronto and Calgary experienced severe thunderstorms and hail, leading to significant flood damage. We've seen unprecedented flooding around the world and hundreds of fires ravaging Canadian forests. These are just some recent examples of how climate disruption is already affecting our lives. Disasters caused by extreme weather expose the vulnerability of our homes, communities and built infrastructure to the impacts of climate change. Local governments are facing greater burdens from infrastructure costs as they try to manage increasingly extreme weather. As communities get hotter, and much wetter or drier, good management of natural infrastructure can help to prevent, or at least mitigate, devastating damage. Natural or green infrastructure includes wetlands; forests and urban trees; parks; meadows; green roofs; and even lawns and gardens. It has proven successful in lessening the impacts of extreme weather events. Vancouver's Rain City Strategy aims to use green infrastructure to capture and clean 90 per cent of rainwater, which will improve water quality, manage flooding and reduce urban heat while creating more urban green space. In Ontario, York Region has received funding from the Infrastructure Canada Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund to plant trees and support other natural infrastructure to mitigate extreme temperatures and reduce erosion and flooding impacts. Clarissa Samson is a nature-based solutions campaign economist at the David Suzuki Foundation. Photograph courtesy of the David Suzuki Foundation Natural stormwater infrastructure can prevent flooding; repairing flood damage to urban infrastructure is projected to cost Canada billions of dollars. Wetlands, forests, parks, grasslands and other green spaces can improve drainage, reduce flooding from storms, and prevent runoff from flowing into rivers and lakes. Protecting and managing watersheds and forests can clean the water supply and cool urban spaces during heat waves. Forests are extremely effective filtration systems for municipal and community water supplies. Tree cover can cool an urban environment through shade and evaporation through its canopy, reducing humidity during hot summers. Preserving natural carbon sinks can save humans the trouble of building costly, engineered carbon sinks; forests and coastal and ocean sinks provide us with this benefit for free. Why not keep healthy ecosystems for this service, rather than replacing them with costly and poorly adaptable, carbon-intensive infrastructure? To fully realize the benefits of green infrastructure as we plan for the future, we need to protect and restore existing natural systems, prioritizing investment in natural infrastructure. If governments don't factor climate change into today's infrastructure investments, we will face the consequences for decades. Managing and protecting natural infrastructure doesn't mean we can rid ourselves of grey and built infrastructure. We must strengthen the resilience of our cities and communities, creating hybrid designs that include built and natural infrastructure. For example, railways and roads that connect us between home and work can be designed to incorporate natural systems in their construction, ensuring wildlife corridors and biodiversity are not sacrificed. Jennifer Court is the executive director of the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition. Photograph courtesy of the David Suzuki Foundation Natural systems are more climate-resilient than human-engineered infrastructure, and are more cost-effective and adaptable in the face of changing climatic conditions. A recent report by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Insurance Bureau of Canada, "Investing in Canada's Future: The Cost of Climate Adaptation at the Local Level," showed that for every dollar invested in climate-resilient, natural infrastructure, $6 is saved in future damages, a strong return on investment. Continuing with current practices will leave communities with a biophysical and financial debt, and will leave us increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events. As the federal government begins its first National Infrastructure Assessment, it's important to recognize the increasingly valuable role of natural infrastructure in delivering services for healthy, resilient communities. Nature and the infrastructure it provides are key elements of a resilient, healthy, low-carbon future. Let's take care of it so it takes care of us! Clarissa Samson is a nature-based solutions campaign economist at the David Suzuki Foundation. Jennifer Court is the executive director of the Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition.

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Preserve green infrastructure so it can preserve us

Natural systems are more climate-resilient than human-engineered infrastructure, and are more cost-effective and adaptable in the face of changing climatic conditions.

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