Client:
Province of British Columbia and Fraser Basin Council
Timing:
October 2020 – May 2021
Location:
Province of British Columbia (provincial project)
Their challenge
To support the development of a new Flood Strategy for BC, the Fraser Basin Council (FBC) was retained by the Province of BC to manage and coordinate research and engagement across a broad range of flood management issues relating to governance, hazard and risk management, forecasting, and emergency response and recovery to support the development of the BC Flood Strategy.
As one of the interrelated projects, they wanted to understand the baseline for the governance of flood risk management activities in BC, and to then explore obstacles and opportunities to improve governance.
Our solution
To develop a baseline assessment, we completed a full governance review and audit of flood risk management activities in BC. This also included a review of related governance and authority of the Federal Government, First Nation and Local Governments within BC, as well as a review of the role of private sector actors in the space.
To analyse the vast number of activities and actors that play a role in flood governance in the Province, we developed a framework and visualisation tool. This allowed for easy identification of gaps, as well as overlaps and opportunity for efficiency improvements. Results from the analysis were used to inform a new proposed model of flood governance for the Province.
This report, which concludes that “Flood risk governance in BC is broken” was cited dozens if not hundreds of times by officials and the media during the 2021 Atmospheric River event.
Services
Strategic Flood and Disaster Planning
Flood Risk Assessment
Project assets
