Engineers Canada, in partnership with Transport Canada, recently published three reports of climate vulnerability assessments in Canada’s North.
Engineers Canada, in partnership with Transport Canada, recently published three reports of climate vulnerability assessments in Canada’s North.
The assessments on the Churchill, Inuvik and Cambridge Bay airports were carried out last spring using Engineers Canada’s Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) Protocol. Funding for the assessments was provided by Transport Canada and selection of the three airports was done in consultation with the transportation departments in the three territories.
These northern airports were selected because they are experiencing and/or are at risk of experiencing the effects associated with a changing climate. Changes due to climate affecting airports in the north include degrading permafrost, changing freeze-thaw cycles and altered precipitation patterns.
The studies were undertaken to get a better understanding of the potential climate vulnerabilities over the next 30 years at the three airports. The goal was to determine if any elements of airport infrastructure could be at risk of failure, damage, loss of service and/or deterioration from extreme climatic events or significant changes to the climate now and in the future.
The findings from the assessments will inform improved operations and maintenance practices as well as investment and asset management decisions by the airport owners and operators.
The PIEVC Protocol was developed by Engineers Canada more than 10 years ago and is a formalized risk assessment procedure that ensures that climate change effects are considered in engineering design, operations and maintenance of public infrastructure. Since it was first used in 2007, the Protocol has been applied more than 45 times in Canada and abroad across a range of infrastructure systems.
Read the full reports from the assessments of the three northern airports on the PIEVC website. Questions can be directed to David Lapp, FEC, P.Eng., IRP, Engineers Canada’s Practice Lead, Globalization and Sustainable Development, or Jenna Craig, Environmental Policy Framework and Integration, Transport Canada.
