Whitehorse Climate Change Adaptation Plan - Yukon College

The broader community was engaged through a series of open houses, beginning with an
introductory open house in June 2009 to promote the project. A total of four open houses
and three workshops were held in the community over the course of the two-year adaptation
project, from June 2009 to June 2011.
LIMITATIONS OF THE WHITEHORSE ADAPTATION PLAN
The Whitehorse adaptation plan makes recommendations to increase the resilience of
Whitehorse based on the assessment of climate change vulnerability. The plan was developed
through a rigorous process, which emphasized local knowledge and its integration with scientific
information. However, given the broad nature of the assessment, the plan is necessarily limited
by the availability and quality of data, the diversity of the community, and our emphasis on
qualitative information.
Climate change will affect almost every facet of Yukon and the people who live in it. Assessing
this complex system is challenging and uncertainty is a significant component of climate change
research (Malone and Brenkert, 2008). While the Whitehorse adaptation planning process was
designed to manage uncertainty to the greatest degree possible, data gaps do exist. Therefore,
the Whitehorse adaptation plan should be revisited regularly as new information emerges and
the uncertainty associated with adaptation planning is reduced.
The Whitehorse region is also remarkably complex. As will be described in the next section, the
area is composed of extensive infrastructure, a number of interrelated governing bodies, and
a relatively diverse population and economy. This complexity has been challenging to appraise
given the broad nature of the adaptation plan. Extreme or special cases characterized by a
high level of uncertainty have been especially challenging to evaluate. Such cases include a
population expansion well beyond that indicated by current trends (or conversely a population
decline), exceptional disaster situations, and/or regime shifts at an unprecedented rate of
change. Our recommendations have been developed based on the information that could be
gathered and supported by local, professional and academic technical knowledge. It should
also be noted that an increase in community resilience through the timely implementation of
adaptation strategies will buffer Whitehorse against some or all of the vulnerabilities associated
with unprecedented and/or extreme events.
The use of spatial information in this report has been largely used to support the observations
provided to us by the community and by the Local and Technical Advisory committees.
Quantitative information has therefore not played a significant role in the planning process.
In part, our reliance on qualitative data has arisen due to the emphasis on local and technical
knowledge in the plan. Quantitative data has also been challenging to integrate due to the broad
nature and suite of issues that this plan addresses. As uncertainty is addressed and additional
information becomes available, it is likely that a greater emphasis can be placed on quantitative
information in the adaptation planning process. It is encouraged that quantitative information is
integrated into future versions of this adaptation plan as opportunity allows.
WHITEHORSE COMMUNITY PROFILE
Whitehorse Climate Change Adaptation Plan
Many factors create the unique characteristics that define Whitehorse and its vulnerability and
resilience to climate change. Some of these characteristics stem from the community, such as
the demographic profile of residents, their history of addressing hazards, their education, and
the economy. Other characteristics emerge from the landscape (e.g., biophysical profile of the
community), which determines the susceptibility of the region to environmental stresses and
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