The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) achieved a milestone in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection Program with Corporate Emissions and Community Energy Emissions Plans, and took a unified approach to sustainability.
The SCRD’s unifying approach to Climate Action is expressed in the “One Coast” initiative, a site dedicated to action for a sustainable future on the Sunshine Coast. It also links the region together with a common story and understanding about the sum of efforts to create a sustainable region.
In 2009, the SCRD approved a Corporate Emissions Plan and Community Energy Emissions Plan on a regional basis with the Town of Gibsons, the District of Sechelt and the Sechelt Indian Government District. These plans fulfilled the SCRD’s achievement of Milestone 3 in the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Partners for Climate Protection Program, which at the time had only been achieved by 15% of the program partners across the country.
SCRD led the process of creating a regional Sustainability Plan, which was adopted in 2011. The Plan could be most accurately described as part of an ongoing process of climate action and sustainability than as a single event or conversation.
Communities, municipalities and agencies on the Coast have all been working on various initiatives (26 of them are credited in the Plan), and the regional Plan process was an opportunity to learn about one another’s actions and to strengthen efforts on a regional basis. The process for the Sustainability Plan was intended as a call to action at every level of the community, with health and well being embodied as a core value for sustainability.
Thirteen strategic
directions form the focus of the plan, including employment, transportation, housing and zero waste. The timeframe for the plan looks out to 2020, and it includes both climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation policies and projects.
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) provided encouragement and input to the plan, alongside many other community agencies and organizations. The Medical Health Officer published an op-ed piece in the regional news to get the message out about the health benefits of sustainability, and VCH contributed input to the Plan to reinforce and support the links being make between health, sustainability, and the actions being taken on the Sunshine Coast.
The ongoing story and the call to action for a sustainable Sunshine Coast continue to unfold with local action, training events, and more.
And the process continues to reach out – any organization or agency is invited to support five key commitments to sustainability, quality of life, and climate change action embodied in We Envision:
- Designing low-environmental-impact communities based on energy-efficient transportation and settlement patterns
- Ensuring high-quality drinking water and the availability of locally grown and produced food
- Providing affordable-housing options, green jobs and regional economic development
- Developing a comprehensive range of cultural, community and social services that protects our indigenous and cultural heritage and facilitates life-long learning
- Celebrating the urban-wild dynamic, unique to our region, and showing respect for our natural environment by reducing waste and designing resilience against the impacts of climate change
For more information contact:
Brian Shoji
Sunshine Coast Regional District
Email: bryan.shoji@scrd.ca
Phone: 604-885-6800
