New climate action plan to be part of upcoming Regional District of Nanaimo budget deliberations

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

The Regional District of Nanaimo board of directors have added an additional staff position to the fall’s financial plan deliberations that would support the implementation of a five-year climate action plan.

The climate action technical advisory committee (CATAC) has developed a draft five-year plan to address climate change-fuelled risks facing the region. CATAC consists of six technical experts in the community and three elected officials – Area H Director and Board Vice Chair Stuart McLean, Area A Director Jessica Stanley and Nanaimo Director Ben Geselbracht.

The 2022-24 priorities determined by CATAC and approved by the board focused on water supply and assets, policy development and climate-ready retrofits for residents. For developing the 2025-29 plan, “the focus was on identifying priorities that benefit other RDN programs and objectives, build on existing works, maintain momentum and bring benefits to current and future residents,” Jessica Beaubier, RDN climate change and resilience coordinator, said in a presentation to the board on July 23.

The recommended focus priorities are: building wildfire resilience, regional water supply resilience, new and existing climate-ready buildings, climate resilient policy and natural asset management. Wildfire resilience is new while the other priorities build on the current plan.

Currently there is “limited information on how fire risk is distributed across our region,” Beaubier said.

Staff said implementation of the plan brings a need to add a 0.5 FTE position in the long-range planning, energy and sustainability department beginning in 2025 with an estimated new funding from tax requisition starting at $77,500. Some grant money is expected to support some of the plan implementation, but staff also noted there is uncertainty around whether the B.C. government’s Local Government Climate Action Program funding, which gives the RDN roughly $145,000 per year, will continue past 2026.

Directors expressed discomfort in supporting an additional staff position to implement the five-year plan.

“I can’t take a look at this [plan] without the composite impact of [other services],” Area E Director Bob Rogers said, voting in favour of deferring the vote to September, a motion that was defeated.

“What’s really clear is that inaction is way more expensive than action on climate change … from a financial perspective and a climate perspective,” Area A Director Stanley said.

Part of the wildfire work proposed includes mapping risk in the RDN. Vice Chair McLean told the board that provincial mapping for the area only looks at Crown land.

“Crown land is a small portion in the RDN, so we don’t have an accurate picture” for the region, McLean said. “We need to do our own mapping because the province isn’t doing it.”

The board approved four motions including that the resources required to implement the CATAC’s recommended draft 2025-29 climate action plan be added to the 2025-29 financial plan, and that strategic supports recommended by CATAC be built into the delivery of all recommended priorities and existing plans and programs cited in the draft plan.