How some small towns in northwestern Ontario are tackling climate change with limited resources

Some small municipalities in northwestern Ontario say they lack the resources to take as much action as they'd like to adapt to the effects of climate change, but are doing what they can. 

Several administrators spoke to CBC News after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report Feb. 28 chronicling the effects of global warming around the world. 

Across the Ontario region, temperatures are projected to rise around two degrees over 2005 levels by 2050, according to data from the Climate Atlas of Canada, and the number of days when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees will rise substantially in the west.

Kenora could see nearly 19 such days per year by 2050 — up from around six prior to 2005. Fort Frances could see more than 22, up from fewer than eight. 

The frost-free season is projected to lengthen by 20 to 25 days — closer to 25 to the east of Thunder Bay — and precipitation will increase by approximately 60 per cent, adding between 40 and 50 millimetres to the annual rain and snowfall. 

"It's incredibly tough," said Adam Smith, director of development services for the City of Kenora, describing the challenge faced by small communities.

"Often you'll see in some other larger municipalities you actually have dedicated staff around climate change, whereas it's more of a shared responsibility here at the city." 

Smith identified wildfires, localized flooding and threats to water quality from storm water run-off as potential risks to the city from climate change.  

But he said the city doesn't know as much as it would like to about some of those risks because of the costs involved in studying the issues. 

"Floodplain mapping is an example," he said. "When you have to retain the technical expertise to pull it off and to acquire that information, it's very cost prohibitive for many communities."

Smith also wishes he could do a greenhouse gas inventory to look at where emissions are coming from, he added.

Kenora did receive funding several years ago that helped incorporate climate change considerations into its plan for managing city infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, Smith said. 

It is currently working on a sustainability action plan, and recently completed a pilot that involved purchasing a small number of food cyclers at a reduced price and subsidizing the cost for residents who wanted to buy them.

The city is collecting data from the pilot and may scale it up, Smith said.