Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Rural Community Practitioners Workbook

This practitioner workbook draws together the insights from a three-year (2016-19) Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) funded research study. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such collaboration and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of this workbook are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any practitioner recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This report is part of a larger suite of documents on rural Ontario inter-community service cooperation. To access the complete rural ICSC toolkit please visit http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Environmental Scan

Given the research that has been done in this environmental scan and the gaps found in this research, it is our aim to find out: What types of service sharing are going on in Ontario municipalities, particularly in rural/remote areas? How can inter-community service sharing (ICSS) benefit the asset management planning process in these rural/remote areas to enhance capacities for climate change resilience? Climate change (CC) will exacerbate deterioration to existing infrastructure and increase replacement costs. Improved preparedness reduces risks and increases efficiency, readiness and coping capacity. To increase the preparedness of Ontario rural communities, this project develops CC-Prepared Inter-Community Service Sharing (ICSS) as an innovative strategy that expands cost-effective solutions within Ontario’s standardized Asset Management Planning (AMP) process. Overseen by a Project Advisory Board (PAB), it identifies a suite of best practice ICSS processes and principles and a range of factors and indicators that influence the uptake of ICSS as a viable and practical opportunity targeted to enhance rural infrastructure preparedness for CC. It utilizes a multimethod, interdisciplinary approach involving an environmental scan, interviews, a survey and case studies and develops an ICSS Toolkit consisting of reports, workbook, policy brief and media kit. Knowledge translation and transfer (KTT) includes blogs, teleconferences, articles, presentations and a workshop. For small rural Ontario communities, this study enhances management of CC impacts on infrastructure through the development of a CC-Prepared ICSS strategy, increasing anticipatory, collective actions that reduce dam age and increase efficiencies. It informs sound municipal/provincial level programs and policies about innovative ICSS that benefit rural communities through the identification of Ontario-wide trends, case study best practises and action-oriented recommendations

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Policy Brief

This policy brief draws together the insights from a three-year (2016-19) Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) funded research study. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such collaboration and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of policy brief are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any policy recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This document is part of a larger suite of documents on rural Ontario inter-community service cooperation. To access the complete rural ICSC toolkit please visit http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications/

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Policy Brief

This policy brief draws together the insights from a three-year (2016-19) Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) funded research study. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such collaboration and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of policy brief are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any policy recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This document is part of a larger suite of documents on rural Ontario inter-community service cooperation. To access the complete rural ICSC toolkit please visit http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications/

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Final Report: SWOT Analysis and Key Insights

This final report draws together the insights from the three-year Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (2016-2019) study. The quote above succinctly draws together the vision behind this project: Enhanced, efficient service cooperation that contributes to a sustainable and prepared infrastructure system, while protecting the environmental capital upon which rural economies frequently depend. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such cooperation and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of this report are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any policy or practitioner recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This report begins by defining key terms. It then undertakes a brief SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) assessment to draw out key project insights. The SWOT analysis is based primarily on reports written from each of the three stages of the project: key informant interviews, survey and case studies. The questions that guided the SWOT analysis are provided in Table 1. The goal was to identify the range of factors that can either limit or enhance an Ontario rural municipality’s ability to undertake service cooperation, with a particular focus on the impacts of CC on its infrastructure and the role of asset management. In this SWOT analysis, the strengths and weaknesses are internal to, and under the control of, the municipality while the opportunities and threats are part of the external environment that can have a direct or indirect impact on the municipality

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Interim Report 2: Provincial Survey Results

Rural communities draw from their history of doing more with less, strong social networks and an intimate relationship with the natural environment to achieve economic innovation, positive social capacity development and environmental sustainability. These spaces also experience challenges including preparing for the impacts of climate change (CC). Ontario has already felt some of these effects leading to millions of dollars of damage to the province’s infrastructure. Exacerbated by an aging infrastructure built by now outdated assumptions, the vulnerability to CC will likely increase and the built-in coping range may not be adequate to handle future climate extremes. The purpose of the broader research project is to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of CC in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such collaboration and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). For the purposes of this project, rural communities include all Ontario communities who self-identify as rural, or partially rural, and have membership in the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA). This project is guided by a Project Advisory Board (PAB) consisting of experts representing key rural sectors. The research is focused on the infrastructure sectors most likely affected by CC, that are under the control of Ontario rural communities, and where ICSC shows promise

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Interim Report 1: Key Informant Interview Results

The purpose of this study is to develop a climate change (CC) prepared inter-community service sharing strategy (ICSS) targeted to rural Ontario communities that capitalizes on infrastructure assessments that are undertaken through the asset management process (AMP). AMP is defined by the Ontario government as “…. the process of making the best possible decisions regarding the building, operating, maintaining, renewing, replacing and disposing of infrastructure assets. It helps prioritize infrastructure needs and ensures that investments are made in the right place and at the right time to minimize future repair and rehabilitation costs.” The objective of AMPs are to maximize benefits, manage risk, and provide satisfactory levels of service to the public in a sustainable manner. Asset management requires a thorough understanding of the characteristics and condition of infrastructure assets, as well as the service levels expected from them. It also involves setting strategic priorities to optimize decision making about when and how to proceed with investments. Finally, it requires the development of a financial plan, which is the most critical step in putting the plan into action. In Ontario, communities are encouraged to undertake the standardized AMP process. AMPs outline the state of local infrastructure (types, age, condition, valuation/replacement cost); expected levels of service (performance measures, external trends/issues); coordinated strategies for maintenance, growth, disposal and renewal including non-infrastructural solutions (integrated planning and land use planning); procurement options, benefits and costs including revenue streams, historic and forecasted costs for the life cycle of the assets, assessment of risk (probability, consequence, vulnerability); and financing options including ICSS potential. AMP challenges include lack of familiarity, personnel training, time and finances and data gaps. Changes to AMP in Ontario are coming with the introduction of the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity (IJPA) Act (herein called Bill 6). The biggest change to AMP is that it will soon need to address the risks and vulnerabilities that may be caused by climate change to the municipality’s infrastructure assets. The core details of bill six can be found on the recently concluded public comment period, found on the environmental registry website

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Assessment of Ten Rural Municipal Case Studies

This assessment of ten municipal case studies is a sub-project of a larger three-year Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (2016-2019) study. The purpose of the assessment was to i) evaluate the role of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) in relation to climate change preparedness and asset management planning (AMP) through the presentation of ten case studies, and ii) draw together cross-cutting themes and best practices that have the potential to maximize the climate change (CC) preparedness of rural municipal infrastructure. All project documents are available online from http://www.resilientresearch.ca/research-publications/

Knowledge Mobilization, Citizen Science, and Education

While climate change project funders, community partners, and researchers are increasingly calling for robust knowledge mobilization plans, including knowledge translation and transfer, there are ongoing debates about how to design and measure the effectiveness of these efforts for specific target audiences. Climate Change S.O.S. – Save Our Syrup! is a knowledge mobilization program that brings high school students out to a working sugarbush in Ontario, Canada. This program was developed by drawing on the outdoor education expertise at the Mountsberg Conservation Area, forestry specialists’ consultation, and the project team’s work on previous community-based studies. Students also contribute to a citizen science project monitoring the health of the sugar maple ecosystem and learn about the impact of climate change on this ecosystem. Pretest and posttest surveys measured the knowledge mobilization program’s effectiveness on the students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. With 600 grade 9–12 participants in this project, this is one of the largest studies that the team could find that measures climate change knowledge mobilization effectiveness on high school students. Results indicate short-term positive changes in knowledge of climate change and maple syrup, and positive changes in students’ attitudes regarding their ability to lessen their impact on climate change, but no statistically significant longer-term change to behavior. After highlighting some of the key issues and concerns around designing three projects and measuring effectiveness, the paper outlines how the program was developed, its key results and limitations and lessons learned. We argue that although single, targeted knowledge mobilization efforts can be effective, longer-term, multi-pronged approaches are likely necessary to contribute to sustained behavioral change

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Final Report: SWOT Analysis and Key Insights

This final report draws together the insights from the three-year Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (2016-2019) study. The quote above succinctly draws together the vision behind this project: Enhanced, efficient service cooperation that contributes to a sustainable and prepared infrastructure system, while protecting the environmental capital upon which rural economies frequently depend. The purpose of the research project was to 1) assess the potential of inter-community service cooperation (ICSC) as a possible tool to address the impacts of climate change (CC) in small (500-7500 pop.) Ontario rural communities south of the Sudbury region and 2) understand the extent to which such cooperation and the impacts of CC are, or could be, embedded within the community’s infrastructure (asset) management processes (AMP). While the conclusions of this report are generalized to represent an overall picture of Ontario rural municipalities, each jurisdiction is distinctive with its own history and geography. Thus, any policy or practitioner recommendations must take into consideration local circumstances, needs and preferences. This report begins by defining key terms. It then undertakes a brief SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) assessment to draw out key project insights. The SWOT analysis is based primarily on reports written from each of the three stages of the project: key informant interviews, survey and case studies. The questions that guided the SWOT analysis are provided in Table 1. The goal was to identify the range of factors that can either limit or enhance an Ontario rural municipality’s ability to undertake service cooperation, with a particular focus on the impacts of CC on its infrastructure and the role of asset management. In this SWOT analysis, the strengths and weaknesses are internal to, and under the control of, the municipality while the opportunities and threats are part of the external environment that can have a direct or indirect impact on the municipality