To further our collective understanding of disaster and climate risk and resilience, the Province is committed to reducing the impacts of disasters and climate risks on communities across B.C. by developing a provincial Disaster and Climate Risk and Resilience Assessment (DCRRA), anticipated for release in June 2024. The DCRRA is a shared mandate commitment between the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s Climate Action Secretariat, and will seek to better understand the increasing complexity and frequency of disasters, ranging from seismic events to climate change related events such as floods, wildfires, heatwaves, and slow onset risks like sea level rise, ecosystems changes, and species decline. Subsequent regional assessments are anticipated for release in 2026. The provincial and regional assessments will inform the development of a Provincial Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction Strategy.

To help this process move forward in a good way, the Province is committed to taking a distinctions-based approach to co-developing the assessment with Treaty and First Nations and engaging with Indigenous partners, ensuring it aligns with the B.C. First Nations Climate Strategy and Action Plan and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). The provincial and regional assessments will include local and Indigenous knowledges, where permission is given, in order to better reflect the variability of disaster and climate risks and resilience in B.C.

During the summer of 2022, the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Strategy’s Climate Action Secretariat project team, with support from Sa̱nala Planning (formerly Alderhill Planning), began the work to ensure that the framework for assessing risk and resilience is co-designed with First Nations and Treaty Nations through a series of virtual synchronous and asynchronous engagements. What was shared, along with suggestions for the next phase of this work, has been included in a summary report, Connecting Risk & Resilience: Perspectives from First Nations and First Nation Organizations on the Province of B.C.’s proposed approach to co-developing a disaster and climate risk and resilience assessment framework.

For more information on the ongoing Disaster and Climate Risk and Resilience Assessment (DCRRA) work, or to get involved, please connect with the provincial project team at ClimateReadyBC@gov.bc.ca.