The video shows a house swept away by the waves which ends up crashing into a bridge.
The scene alone illustrates the cruel irony of climate change. Because it took place this week in Merritt, British Columbia. A place where people prayed for water just a few months ago.
The municipality of Merritt is located a few dozen kilometers as the crow flies from Lytton, a village that burned down last summer after recording a record temperature of 49.6 ° C.
These events, combined with so many others, are a reminder that climate change is underway and that it is hitting hard.
And that might just be the start. At the COP26, which just ended in Glasgow, world leaders did not agree on ways to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 ° C. We are moving towards an increase of 2.4 ° C by 2100.
That means one thing: you have to prepare. While obviously continuing to look for ways to reduce our emissions.
There is no contradiction in defending yourself against the consequences of the climate emergency while vigorously attacking its causes.
To say that Quebec stands idly by in the face of climate change would be unfair.
In 2019, the provincial government launched a program to financially support municipalities wishing to adopt a climate change adaptation plan. Today, most large municipalities have done this exercise. They know their vulnerabilities and know how to deal with them.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Bank erosion is a concern in the Magdalen Islands.
The problem is taking action on a large scale. And the means to do it.
Climate change is a boxer hitting us from all sides at once. In eastern Quebec, rising water levels and increasing storms are eating away at the coastline. In the north of the province, thawing permafrost destabilizes infrastructure and gives communities the impression of living on moving Jell-O.
Cities, for their part, must fight against heat islands, floods and droughts which, in summer, will affect both the quantity and the quality of water.
Everywhere, our infrastructures are built to withstand the climatic vagaries of the past and not the future. In 2018, a study carried out on behalf of the Union of Quebec Municipalities estimated that it would be necessary to invest 4 billion in five years to adapt those that fall under the municipal world to the new reality.
However, the Legault government’s Plan for a Green Economy devotes barely 6% of its budget to climate adaptation, or 384 million over five years. It is true that funds are also available from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the federal government. But they are not enough.
Politically, investing in climate change adaptation does not pay off. It is above all the achievement of reduction targets that attracts the attention of the media and non-governmental organizations.
The impacts ? Too often, we wait for them to strike rather than preventing the blows.
From a simple accounting point of view, adaptation is, however, an investment that is hard to beat. Studies show that every dollar spent on it saves six in damage repair. Remember that the floods of 2017 and 2019 alone cost the provincial government and Quebec municipalities nearly $ 1 billion.
In 2001, Quebec had the good idea to create the Ouranos consortium, a group of scientists who conduct studies to help the province adapt to climate change.
However, these people who are paid to sound the alarm are in the process of doing so.
“We are clearly not ready,” said Alain Bourque, general manager of Ouranos.
Not listening to it risks costing us dearly.
What do you think? Express your opinion