New Story Maps featuring key climate trends, impacts and opportunities
September 2022
Over the course of the past two years, the Council of the Great Lakes Region, with funding from Bruce Power and technical expertise and modelling from the Climate Risk Institute, has engaged agricultural, municipal, and Indigenous communities in Grey, Bruce, and Huron counties to produce knowledge and information products that address opportunities and risks related to climate change and specific environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic values and activities of importance to the communities.
Consultations with Indigenous partners from Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), Historic Saugeen Métis (HSM) and Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) played a crucial role in the project and helped establish a common understanding of key needs and interests. Research and engagement work with the communities were critical elements of the risk assessment and helped establish a risk registry and assess the degree of risk as it relates to environmental, social, cultural, and economic consequences of climate impacts. The work resulted in the development of three story maps that explore climate trends, impacts, and opportunities for key terrestrial, aquatic, and rare habitats on traditional Indigenous lands in Grey, Bruce, and Huron counties. Each story map (e.g., the one developed for the Historic Saugeen Métis) features information on expected changes in climate, species, and habitat vulnerability, environmental impacts, community consequences and potential opportunities that are supported by videos, photos, and graphs as well as interactive elements such as web maps.