VICTORIA, BC — A new guidebook released by the Natural Assets Initiative (NAI) aims to help local governments develop resilient infrastructure strategies.
Supported by the Greenbelt Foundation and the Municipal Finance Officers’ Association of Ontario, Nature is Infrastructure: How to Include Natural Assets in Asset Management Plans outlines comprehensive best practices so that municipalities can effectively manage natural assets such as forests, wetlands and shorelines and the critical infrastructure services they provide, a release indicates.
The guidebook also provides specific details on how municipalities can navigate Ontario’s regulation O.Reg 588/17, which requires consideration of both human-made and natural assets as part of asset management planning.
The timing of the publication is crucial as Canada juggles affordable housing needs with disaster recovery from 2023’s extreme weather events, indicates the release. Local governments own about 60 per cent of the country’s public infrastructure and there is growing recognition of how natural infrastructure can be a more cost-effective and climate resilient solution compared to built infrastructure alone.
“Nature is a key ally in building resilience to climate impacts, which are already disrupting lives and economies,” said Roy Brooke, executive director at NAI, in a statement. “As development pressures, as well as heat, drought, and other extreme weather events pose increasing challenges to Canada’s ageing infrastructure, it is vital that we build investment plans that ensure natural assets can keep providing core services today and into the future.”
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