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1. Indigenous Reserve Lands in Canada Face High Flood Risk

Author:
Jason Thistlethwaite, Andrea Minano, Daniel Henstra, and Daniel Scott
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Nearly every year, Indigenous peoples in First Nations communities face property damage, disrupted livelihoods and the severe social and psychological burdens associated with evacuation due to flooding. Perhaps the most striking example is the recurrent flooding that afflicts the Kashechewan First Nation in Northern Ontario, whose residents have been forced to evacuate their homes every spring for 17 years. Although it’s known that Indigenous communities face a greater flood risk and experience more flood emergencies than the general Canadian population, the scope and magnitude of the current threat, and how it might evolve under climate change, has been little studied. This policy brief reports on research at the University of Waterloo that is assessing, quantifying and mapping the flood risk to Indigenous peoples living on reserve lands and includes policy recommendations to help with better understanding and reducing that risk.
Topic:
Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Indigenous, and Flood
Political Geography:
Canada and North America

2. Managing Urban Flood Risk: A Framework for Evaluating Alternative Policy Instruments

Author:
Daniel Henstra and Jason Thistlethwaite
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
To maximize the effectiveness of flood risk management, city governments should employ multiple policy instruments to balance the objectives of resilience (i.e., risk reduction), efficiency (i.e., benefits exceed costs) and legitimacy (i.e., political and public support). Flood risk management instruments differ to the extent that they emphasize some of these objectives over others, so informed trade-offs are required when selecting and combining them. Contextual factors, such as available resources, the level of flood risk and the degree of public risk awareness, are also salient when choosing among policy instruments for flood risk management.
Topic:
Natural Disasters, Legitimacy, Public Health, and Flood
Political Geography:
Global Focus

3. Better Flood Maps Are Required to Protect Canadians and Their Property

Author:
Andrea Minano, Daniel Henstra, and Jason Thistlethwaite
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Flooding is a growing source of financial insecurity for Canadian households. Flood maps serve a far more effective function in many countries than they currently do in Canada, and they are an essential tool with which to communicate flood risk to the public, encourage property owners to purchase insurance and encourage flood preparedness. Existing flood maps in Canada, however, are difficult to find, outdated and of poor quality, containing few of the characteristics that experts associate with high-quality maps. Improving information about flood exposure, by improving the quality of and access to these maps, can play an important role in protecting Canadians from significant financial risk.
Topic:
Climate Change, Environment, Natural Disasters, Flood, and Property
Political Geography:
Canada and North America

4. Leveraging Media Coverage of Disasters to Support Disaster Risk Reduction

Author:
Jason Thistlethwaite and Daniel Henstra
Publication Date:
11-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
Disasters focus attention on hazards, creating a window of opportunity to adopt new risk reduction policies. The news media can shape post-disaster policy debate by directing the attention of policy makers toward problems and solutions. A content analysis of newspaper coverage around two of Canada’s most significant floods reveals that the media are focused more on the short-term impacts of hazards than on the policy problems that underpin flood risk. Broadening the constituency of flood risk management advocates and improving outreach with stakeholders could help to better leverage the focal power of media coverage for disaster management policy change.
Topic:
Natural Disasters, Media, and Flood
Political Geography:
Canada and North America

5. Flood Risk Mapping in Canada: Moving Forward on a National Priority

Author:
Daniel Henstra and Jason Thistlethwaite
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for International Governance Innovation
Abstract:
To improve public awareness of flood risk and meet its commitment to the United Nations Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, Canada must develop up-to-date flood risk maps and make them publicly available. Effective flood maps improve risk perception, ensure information is accessible and stimulate risk reduction. Good flood maps provide: information to personalize the experience of flooding; local and historical context; a legend; legible flood extents; definitions of scientific and technical terminology; transparency on uncertainty and limitations; data on all forms of flooding; and risk reduction advice. Until a more coordinated map development process can occur, the Government of Canada should create a national online repository where existing maps are collected and made publicly accessible.
Topic:
Science and Technology, United Nations, Natural Disasters, Maritime, Flood, and Maping
Political Geography:
Canada and North America

6. A Multiple Streams Explanation of Pakistan’s Climate Change Policy

Author:
Warda Ajaz
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Despite having minimal contribution to the global carbon emissions, Pakistan is considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries to the catastrophes of climate change. The country experienced back-to-back super floods in 2010 and 2011. In 2010 alone, the floods inundated 20 percent of the country and displaced some 20 million people, making it the biggest human displacement caused by a single climate-induced event in the history(Ministry of Climate Change, 2012). In the wake of these disasters, the Government of Pakistan established the world’s first full-fledged National Ministry of Climate Change and approved a National Policy on Climate Change in 2012. In this context, this paper applies a Multiple Streams lens to understand the agenda-setting process that prompted the development and approval of this policy. The paper will first discuss Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate change and the relevant literature on climate change agenda setting, and will then explore how various facts and events fit into the three streams of Multiple Streams Framework to account for the agenda-setting process that led to development and approval of the national climate change policy.
Topic:
Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Governance, and Flood
Political Geography:
Pakistan and South Asia