A copy of the poster is available here
Abstract
Municipalities in Atlantic Canada are critical actors in climate action. Coastal communities, such as those surrounding the Bay of Fundy, are heavily impacted by the intensifying effects of climate change. Though municipal governments exert a high level of control over community-level sustainable development policies and practices, they struggle to implement climate adaptation solutions. This situation is further complicated by the fact that municipal authority to create and implement policies is set and limited by provincial legislation. Little research has been conducted about what enables and restricts the uptake of evidence in municipal decision-making. The research outlined in this poster aims to address this gap by determining how urban coastal municipalities are considering and using evidence in the development of policies and practices to respond to and adapt to climate change. Four coastal municipalities will serve as case studies: Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia; City of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador; Ville de Rimouski, Québec; and a Northern Canada community. A literature search, conducted in February-March 2024, used deductive (a priori) and inductive (a posteriori) keywords to identify relevant references. Initial analysis reveals that barriers to evidence uptake may include (1) lack of expertise, (2) lack of capacity to seek evidence, (3) use of poor information management systems, and (4) inaccessible research and evidence. Potential enablers may include (1) funding research that is practical for knowledge use, (2) collaborative research and knowledge co-production, (3) embedded expertise, and (4) open science. This literature review will inform the next stages of the case studies.
Citation
Legault, A. Toze, S., Caron, I., & MacDonald, B. H. (2024). Optimizing evidence uptake in climate policy: The case of coastal urban municipalities. ACCESS/BoFEP 2024, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, 4-7 June 2024.
Related Blog Post
Khan, J., Legault, A., Margeson, K., Martinez Calderon, D. & Wells, P. G. (4 July 2024). “Tides of Change” – The ACCESS-Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership Conference, 4-7 June 2024. EIUI Blog. https://eiui.ca/tides-of-change-the-access-bay-of-fundy-ecosystem-partnership-conference-4-7-june-2024/