Climate Science and Beyond: Science and Data-Informed Decision Making

Description 

In a sea of scientific information, choosing the right climate data to inform adaptation decision-making can be daunting. These challenges can be compounded when factoring in other forms of data such as social, demographic, and geographic data that paint a clearer picture of community vulnerability and risk. This session provides guidance on the use of climate data in decision-making, showcasing meaningful and practical examples of how climate data can be used in conjunction with other sources to shape action across communities, sectors and systems. 

Presentation/Content Overview: 

This presentation will focus on several CSA standards that cover technologies, techniques, and methodologies related to the collection, organization and application of data for adaptation decision-making; specifically CSA W229.1 Airborne lidar data acquisition, CSA W229.2 Geomatics for flood mapping, and CSA W231 Developing and interpreting intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) under a changing climate.   

The presentation will discuss how the data sources overviewed within these standards can be applied by communities to better understand the impacts of climate change and to promote advancement in resilience through appropriate community and infrastructure design. This talk will also touch upon the CSA W204 Flood resilient design of new residential communities and CSA W210 Prioritization of flood risk in existing communities standards to showcase other tools available to address community resilience to flood risks 

The presentation will highlight several key CSA standards that provide guidelines and requirements with respect to the use of climate data and the application of this information in context of adaptation decision-making. One specific aspect that will be of particular relevance and interest to the session pertains to CSA W231 and the incorporation of climate change in the derivation and application of IDF information.  This standard considers specifically the breadth of scientific information available, with a focus on providing practitioners with science-based direction to choose the right climate data for the purposes of adaptation decision-making. It will be discussed how this has relevance for a broader range of methodological approaches and standards for adaptation decision planning at the community, sector, and system levels. 

Suggested Audience Takeaways 

There will be a number of key takeaways from this presentation for the audience, including: 

• Awareness building of related CSA standards on this topic area 

• Awareness building of efforts to incorporate climate change into climate data, and relevance for those with an interest and involvement in climate resiliency and adaptation decision-making  

• The intersection of climate data across relevant flood resiliency related standards at CSA as well as the intersection with key disciplines such as environmental monitoring and geomatics 

You may be eligible for 1 CPD hour. 

• Member Price: $0.00 (Please log in to see Member pricing. Price will automatically update in your cart)

Session Speakers 

Michael Leering 

Michael Leering is the Director of Environment & Business Excellence Standards for the Canadian Standards Association (operating as CSA Group). His main responsibilities include oversight of three primary programs: Environment & Climate Change, Natural Resources and CSA Group Registries. He oversees standards efforts in these areas including circular economy, reuse, bioeconomy, mining, flood resilience and water management, life cycle assessment and ESG. Recently the team has been focusing significant efforts on mobilizing Canada’s Bioeconomy through research and standards, among other priorities including flood resilience and circular economy.  Michael has been working in the climate change and environmental field for over 18 years and focused his expertise in greenhouse gas (GHG) management, ESG and circular economy and is currently the Vice Chair of the Circular Innovation Council’s Board of Directors. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph and is a licensed environmental engineer in Ontario. 

Paul Steenhof, PhD 

Paul Steenhof is the Manager of Strategic Initiatives for the Environment & Business Excellence Standards for the Canadian Standards Association (operating as CSA Group). He is responsible for coordinating proactive, leading-edge initiatives, identification of emerging trends and technologies, enhancing existing areas of activity, and incubating new standards-based opportunities, including key CSA research initiatives.  Paul Steenhof has been with CSA Group for 18 years where much of his focus has been on standards addressing weather and climate data, flood resiliency, and climate change in general. This builds upon 7 years of consulting work for government and industry on topics related to climate and weather risk.  He has published numerous journal articles as well as book chapters on related subject matter. Academically, Paul holds a PhD in Geography where he focused on environmental and economic modeling, and an MSc in Geography where he focused on climate change, climate extremes, and climate modeling.