CAPG - Ouranos Inc.

As part of a large regional study implemented between 2014 and 2016, Ouranos conducted 25 cost-benefit analyses in coastal areas of five regions facing erosion and flooding problems (Percé, Carleton-sur-Mer, Maria, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, and Kamouraska) (Circé et coll., 2016). This exercise demonstrated the value of economic analysis in supporting decision-making on climate change adaptation. The relevance of making this type of tool available to local decision-makers was confirmed during knowledge transfer activities and discussions with the various stakeholders responsible for the development of coastal municipalities that were not part of the 2016 study. It is in this context that Ouranos, in close collaboration with the La Mitis and Rivière-du-Loup RCMs, is proposing the project titled Plateforme pour l’Analyse Avantages-Coûts en Érosion Et Submersion (PANACÉES) [A Platform for Cost-Benefit Analysis of Erosion and Flooding]. PANACÉES aims to provide an operational tool for local decision-makers to reduce communities’ vulnerability to climate change.Based on a co-construction approach with municipalities and on scientific advances made in recent years, PANACÉES will make it possible to visualize analysis results in a graphic interface that local decision-makers can use to support better decision-making when selecting coastal interventions, taking into account the cost of adaptation measures and ecological services as well as social, tourism and economic impacts. This approach is essential to developing the tool as it allows its future users to also be its main developers, ensuring the tool’s use and longevity. Furthermore, support from the MDDELCC (which is currently coordinating an initiative on increasing coastal resilience in Quebec) and NPOs demonstrates that the various stakeholders involved in coastal adaptation find the PANACÉES project relevant.Discussions are underway with several other partners (Comité ZIP du Sud-de-l’Estuaire, Table de concertation régionale du sud de l’Estuaire moyen, and the ministère des Transports du Québec) who will contribute to the project on an ad hoc basis by making their data or network available.