In early May, more than 60 delegates assembled in person and by Skype from around the world for an information-sharing event on the challenges and opportunities of mainstreaming climate risk management into infrastructure planning.
Organized as part of the inter-sessional meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held once a year in Bonn, Germany, Engineers Canada joined forces with the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH), Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment, Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy, and the German Meteorological Service.
At the meeting, participants heard from Andrea Meza, Director of the Department of Climate Change at Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy, and from
José Miguez, Director of the Department for Climate Change Policy at Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment. Each presented and discussed their respective experiences in strengthening the climate resilience of their infrastructure in the context of their national adaptation planning. In discussing the mainstreaming of climate risk management into infrastructure planning, attendees identified that one key challenge is how to enhance the provision and use of climate information and services, including Engineers Canada’s PIEVC Protocol.
This is only the most recent event organised in the context of the global project Climate Services for Infrastructure Investments (CSI). CSI has set out to empower decision-makers to make greater use of climate services and adopt risk management approaches when planning infrastructure investments. The project is implemented by GIZ GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
