Surrey Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy wins Award of Planning Excellence (Merit) for Climate Change Planning: The Coastal Flood Adaptation Strategy (CFAS) is a multi-year undertaking that identified the current and potential impacts of climate change on Surrey’s large coastal floodplain area—a long-term strategy to reduce climate change-driven coastal flooding risks. Launched in 2016, and one of the first programs of its kind in Canada, CFAS blended a value-based, participatory planning approach with an innovative structured decision-making component. The in-depth, robust technical analysis helped develop a range of strategic actions to make coastal communities more resilient to the challenges ahead.
The jury was impressed by the project’s comprehensive strategic plan and implementable actions to support Surrey’s coastal communities in anticipation of coastal flooding risks. The jury was especially pleased with the way the City of Surrey engaged citizens using a range of innovative planning techniques to help increase understanding of technically complex challenges. This work added to the existing body of knowledge on coastal flood adaptation strategies and climate change planning, and served as an excellent example of how a community-driven approach to planning can create long-lasting and impactful change. EcoPlan shared the award with the City of Surrey and Northwest Hydraulics Ltd.