CAPG - Ontario Parks Association

Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement (2014) defines green infrastructure as natural and human made elements that provide ecological and hydrological functions and processes. Green infrastructure includes natural heritage features, parklands. stormwater management systems, street trees. urban forests, natural channels. permeable surfaces, and green roofs. The Federal Government’s Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and Ontario’s Climate Change strategy both support green infrastructure, identifying its ability to reduce. flooding, improve health, reduce emissions. and increase resilience of communities and ecosystems Despite supportive policy changes in Canada, green infrastructure is still an under-utilized approach, despite its ability to complement traditional grey infrastructure. Municipal governments have identified a lack of capacity about how to value, create policy for. and implement green infrastructure as the biggest obstacle to its widespread use. This program is designed to overcome this. and includes: Development of two training courses: Green Infrastructure Policies, Application, and Case Studies, and Green Infrastructure Costs and Benefits: Methods and Values. Delivery of 12 training courses and two workshops where municipal staff will value green infrastructure in their communities. Green Infrastructure Charrettes in six municipalities, where interdisciplinary stakeholders redesign sites with green infrastructure and subject them to a customized cost-benefit analysis. “Green Infrastructure for Climate Change Adaptation” Reports for each municipality which include visuals, cost-benefit analyses, and next steps. Information sharing through workshops, conferences, and online training. Experiences in the green infrastructure sector have shown that municipalities across Canada face many of the same issues: ageing water infrastructure, vulnerability to surface flooding, increasing severity of weather events, increasing urban heat islands, and a lack of capacity to use green infrastructure to address these challenges. The goal of this program is to build capacity in the municipal sector to use green infrastructure to address adverse climate change impacts. Municipal staff will gain knowledge, skills, and resources to value, create policy for and implement green infrastructure. The Ontario Parks Association and the Green Infrastructure Foundation are both founding members of the Green Infrastructure Ontario (GIO) Coalition, a group working across sectors to encourage the adoption of green infrastructure in Ontario.