Whitehorse Climate Change Adaptation Plan - Yukon College

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Community Adaptation Project
Broadly, the recommended adaptations identified through this community plan are:
Mainstream climate change into planning - especially emergency, land-use and
infrastructure planning - in order to reduce the exposure of the community to climaterelated
hazards.
Integrate climate change into pertinent policy development.
Implement actions to reduce the vulnerability of the community, or to benefit from
emerging opportunities.
Continue work across jurisdictions within Whitehorse to develop effective partnerships
and to learn from other jurisdictions (both nationally and internationally) to assist with
innovation.
Continue to investigate how climate change will stress the natural and built environment
around Whitehorse, through monitoring, threshold analysis, research and innovation.
Explore the food needs and opportunities of agriculture of Whitehorse and Yukon.
Work towards alternative energy production to increase our energy security and help
curb greenhouse gas emissions of the community.
Investigate avenues of adaptation through financial planning.
A cohesive strategy to adapt to climate change in Whitehorse requires actions at various scales
and over many jurisdictions at the same time. Such a strategy must be based on sound planning
and knowledge management. Moreover, to move forward, there will be a need for the various
partners (identified above) to interpret the vision and results of this plan in order to mainstream
our findings. Ultimately, however, the multi-layered nature of adaptation will require that these
partners work together to build the resilience of the community of Whitehorse. For Whitehorse,
the case of climate change adaptation is not necessarily one of institutional strength and
responsibility, but one of exploring what we can all do together for one another.