Municipal Natural Assets Initiative — Cohort 2 National Project Summary Report: City of Courtenay, British Columbia
Published by:
David Suzuki Foundation and partners
Authored by:
Michelle Molnar,
Jeff Wilson,
Josh Thiessen,
Amy Taylor,
Lisa Butler,
Ryan O’Grady,
Jody Rechenmacher,
Cheekwan Ho
Partners:
Smart Prosperity Institute,
Town of Gibsons,
Roy Brooke and Associates
Cities, Climate solutions, Biodiversity British Columbia, eco-assets, community and culture, economics, Indigenous Peoples, land use, natural capital, Municipal Natural Assets Initiative
Located on the Courtenay River flood plain, the City of Courtenay needed to understand how natural assets could help mitigate flood risks, especially in the downtown core, and to see how they compare to engineered alternatives in terms of costs and benefits.
Working with Municipal Natural Assets Initiative, the city developed four scenarios to determine how natural assets could mitigate flooding and modelled these options individually and in combination.
The results showed that natural asset improvements would reduce flood damages by between $723,000 to $2.4 million, while relocating at-risk buildings would cost approximately $6.8 million. In Courtenay, natural asset solutions need to be considered as part of a more comprehensive and phased flood-management strategy that includes the entire community.
