As climate-related hazards intensify for Canada’s coastal communities, inhabitants may feel overwhelmed by a seeming ocean of adaptation resources. A new initiative led by the Climate Risk Institute will help them zero in on the ones best suited to their local needs.

Launched earlier this month in Charlottetown, the nascent CoastAdapt platform is responding to the plight of especially small, remote, often Indigenous, coastal communities across Canada that are scrambling to adapt to rapidly escalating challenges like sea level rise, storm surge, and coastal erosion. Many lack the necessary expertise to match existing adaptation tools to their specific needs and build long-lasting resilience.

“If they start searching on the Internet today, the amount of resources, tools, and information can literally be overwhelming—and in some cases misleading, because adaptation is essentially local in nature,” Sabine Dietz, executive director of CLIMAtlantic, told The Energy Mix. 

CLIMAtlantic, together with the Danish non-profit commercial foundation DHI, is a co-lead on the project with the Climate Risk Institute (CRI), a climate information and support hub.

“CoastAdapt will be able to help staff in communities, elected officials, or community members find the information they are looking for—information that has been triaged, and can form the basis to dig deeper,” Dietz added.

Partially funded by Natural Resources Canada through its Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities program, the $2.6-million CoastAdapt initiative has issued a public Call for Input. Anyone who lives and/or works in a coastal community, anywhere in Canada and in any capacity, is invited to contribute to the design and development of the platform.

CRI and its partners are particularly mindful of the connectivity challenges faced by some coastal communities.

“We have already heard from representatives of Indigenous and remote communities that Internet bandwidth can be a barrier for using web platforms and downloading information,” Joanna Eyquem,  CRI vice-president and CoastAdapt director, told The Mix.

“We are therefore considering whether a USB-based/desktop option, or options that use resources with low data requirements, can be provided,” Eyquem added.

“This project is about supporting people—community members, decision-makers, and practitioners—who are facing very real risks and need better access to guidance, tools, and shared experiences,” Eyquem said in a recent media release.

 “We’re building something that reflects their needs, honours their knowledge, and connects them with the information they can use to take action in a meaningful way.”