What began as Climate Innovation, our strategic program launched in 2019 that built and delivered climate finance tools for rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, has pivoted to Climate Resilience. On this new pathway, our team will support community-led land and water stewardship that integrates climate mitigation and adaptation, creates jobs, and protects cultural values and biodiversity. We believe that when a community decides to maintain and care for a natural ecosystem like a forest, wetland, or grassland, it simultaneously addresses climate mitigation and adaptation, which strengthens its resilience to a changing world.
As the new Director of the Climate Resilience program, I think this shift is both welcome and necessary. I have spent the last decade on climate solutions and have a background in forest ecology and carbon dynamics in natural ecosystems. What some people call ‘natural climate solutions’ are close to my heart because they accomplish two important objectives – reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and protecting biodiversity. Given the current state of the world, addressing both is essential, but what does resilience mean when we talk about human communities?
At a forum on Indigenous climate resilience forum in 2022, Syilx Elder Dr. Jeanette Armstrong spoke about the interconnectedness of her people with the land and the vulnerabilities projected to happen with a changing climate. She explained how her community might confront the changes brought about by global climate shifts: “The place tells us how to do things, as has been learned for thousands of years…and it is Syilx ceremonies that remind us of our responsibilities to the land.”[1]
One of Ecotrust Canada’s former board members was C.S. Holling, an ecologist whose writing and thinking had a profound effect on the way Western science tried to understand the natural world. Holling used the concepts of complexity and resilience to inform contemporary discussions about natural resource management, of which he was very critical. Western science, so detached from the place-based relationships that are intrinsic to Indigenous cultures, owes a lot to Holling for bringing us down to earth.
I learned about C.S. Holling long before I joined Ecotrust Canada, having read his paper Resilience and Stability of Ecological Systems when I was in school decades ago. In 1973, Holling defined the resilience of an ecosystem as the measure of its ability to absorb changes and still exist. As we grapple with the challenges created by a changing climate, Holling’s words remind us to stay grounded. “If we are dealing with a system profoundly affected by changes external to it, and continually confronted by the unexpected, the constancy of [the system’s] behaviour becomes less important than the persistence of the relationships.”[2]
In other words, connection with each other, between humans and lands, and the complex relationships within natural systems ought to guide our actions in a chaotic world.
Relationships are more important than ever. As our team pivots toward building deep, place-based climate resilience with rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, we consider what traditional knowledge and ecology tell us about the right relationship with nature.
Through a tighter focus on directly supporting communities in stewardship and better management of lands and waters, we can deploy the best ‘carbon capture and storage’ devices there are — natural ecosystems — for society-wide benefit. This will not only reduce GHG emissions but also decrease community vulnerability to a changing climate and sustain the relationships that underpin true resilience.
[1] https://retooling.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Indigenous-Resilience-Engagement-Summary-Report-no-Appendix-Mar.-2022.pdf
[2] https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/26/1/RP-73-003.pdf
[Published July 29, 2024]