Municipality Climate Adaptation Case Study Report

In addition, the products—research reports and GIS data—resulting from the ACAS program will
be a useful resource for years to come. The high resolution LiDAR data for the coastal areas
provides much more accurate elevation information than was previously available. This has
utility, not only for flood risk assessment, but also for other land use planning analyses.
The challenge for the Municipality of West Hants will be in interpreting and analyzing the
technical and scientific research we have received and identifying the most effective ways to
use it. While the project has provided some very valuable science, the municipality will be hard
pressed to move on to the next step, given its very limited in-house resources. At the beginning
of the program, municipal planners from the target communities emphasized the need for the
scientific data to be presented in a format that is understandable and usable for those outside
the scientific community. Although not all of the reports were available as of the date of writing
this report, it was apparent from those that had been received, as well as the presentations
made at the March 5-6 conference, that there is still a large gap between the scientific and
technical information and the analysis that will be needed prior to implementing changes in
policies and regulations.
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