Local governments need to rethink how they deliver services reliably and cost-effectively. For a growing number of Canadian municipalities this means looking around them at existing natural assets such as forests, riparian areas and coastal ecosystems for answers. Their experience in municipal natural asset management suggest that natural assets can provide some of the same services as engineered assets but with lower capital and operating costs and greater resilience to a changing climate. This presentation described the rationale for and evolution of municipal natural asset management, including the development of the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative and implications for the planning community.

Presented by: Municipal Natural Assets Initiative

Presenter: Roy Brooke