The current floods in several regions of Quebec are a cruel reminder of the extent to which we are collectively unprepared for the irreversible climatic upheavals that are growing. A questioning and an urgent revision of our ways of doing things are necessary to identify viable and lasting strategies in the face of the risks to come.
Increased risks
With accelerating global warming and rising maximum spring temperatures, the frequency of rainy days, the intensities and the cumulative precipitation are increasing significantly in Quebec. All of these changes affect the speed of snowmelt, multiply rain-on-snow events and accelerate runoff during the spring thaw phase, and therefore increase the risk of potentially damaging floods.
Population and economic growth will also increase the number of people and property exposed to flooding in most watersheds.
Added to this is the obsolescence or unsuitability of our infrastructures, which have become increasingly vulnerable, most having been built without taking climate change into account.
For safer living environments, an overall vision of local issues and convincing solutions, i.e. based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge, must be developed with the contribution of all the necessary expertise, avoiding working in silos.
This is what the Quebec Intersectoral Flood Network (RIISQ) is proposing, funded by the Quebec Research Funds (FRQ) and imagined by chief scientist Rémi Quirion following the floods that hit Quebec in 2017. This network, which brings together all the universities in Quebec, was set up to decompartmentalize knowledge and develop an overall vision in order to find solutions to the recurring problem of flooding.
Support research
It is university research that develops most of the scientific knowledge on climate change, impacts and adaptation. Joint adaptation and resilience strategies in the face of climate risks cannot and should not be based on assumptions, but on scientific and practical knowledge and on validated data that are regularly updated and readily available.
This mobilization and promotion of knowledge must therefore be better or more systematically supported by our governments, in order to strengthen awareness and education in the face of these issues, and to improve the procedures put in place during the stages of prevention, preparation , intervention and recovery.
Thanks to this long-term support, we would thus be collectively in proactive and anticipatory mode, in order to avoid too often reactive crisis management, as recommended by the last global evaluation report of the United Nations United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Science must be at the forefront for better decision-making and must renew itself by involving younger generations.
Harnessing the strength of young people
In this period of skilled labor shortage, Quebec definitely needs to strengthen the training of the next generation, in all fields. Whether in the natural sciences, the human and social sciences or the health sciences, better knowledge of hydroclimatic risks is becoming a means and an essential tool for reducing their consequences.
To make study programs attractive, we must ensure that higher education is adequately funded. The student population is rightly calling for an urgent increase in the value of scholarships and grants and a living wage. Without reinvestment in research by our governments, none of this can happen.
For an observatory on flood risks
Backed by its five-year experience and its critical mass of researchers at the start of their career and experienced, covering the entire Quebec university network, the RIISQ is the legitimate place to host a Quebec observatory on flood risks. This observatory would be a great tool for monitoring, monitoring and analyzing recurrent floods and documenting their consequences on individuals, stakeholders, organizations and communities on a regular basis.
In addition to facilitating the identification and evaluation of various adaptation solutions, this multidisciplinary and independent observatory would make it possible to update knowledge and make it available to everyone on an ongoing basis. Post-flood analyzes are essential to collectively improve our ways and build back better. This would fit perfectly into the Sendai framework defined by UNDRR, whose roadmap was ratified by the governments of Canada and Quebec in March 2017 in Montreal.
In short, the RIISQ and its network of researchers and students offer their support and reach out to decision-makers and join Quebec municipalities who are calling for investments in adaptation, not to mention the university research that greatly contributes to this. There is indeed an urgent need to act, the climate, including socio-economic, is changing rapidly. Together, governments, municipalities and universities, young and old, think and go further!
* Co-signatories: Manel Djemel, Quebec Intersectoral Flood Network and University of Quebec in Montreal; Catherine Trudelle, Quebec Intersectoral Flood Network and University of Quebec in Montreal; Danielle Maltais, Quebec Intersectoral Flood Network and University of Quebec at Chicoutimi; Mylène Riva, Quebec Intersectoral Flood Network and McGill University; Karem Chockmami, Quebec Intersectoral Flood Network and National Institute for Scientific Research (Water-Terre-Environment)