The water sector faces many challenges with integrating climate adaptation into long-term planning and decision-making. Deep uncertainty associated with climate change or complex socio-political realities constrains decision-making, causing paralysis and inaction. Existing planning approaches and resources lack the flexibility to adjust to emerging realities resulting from rapidly changing conditions or situations, such as rising sea levels, extreme events and population growth, among other drivers.

Large water management projects, including those that upgrade or build new infrastructure, require substantive fiscal and societal commitment and generally lock-in approaches even if current realities change or shift. Incorporating adaptation in long-term master planning in the water sector may provide more flexibility as our climate changes.

For water management and large infrastructure delivery embedded within broader societal complexities, adaptation planning approaches, such as Adaptive Pathway Planning, may provide the framing needed to move forward in a measured and deliberate approach.

View this webinar to learn more about the Adaptive Pathway Planning framework and how others, globally, have used it to address deep uncertainty in planning for and implementing large water management projects.

This webinar featured insights from GHD’s Greg Finlayson, CWN’s Sandra Cooke, and GHD’s Ryan Brotchie. Greg Finlayson is a respected leader in desalination, water treatment and One Water Planning with extensive experience across Australia, California, North America, and Asia Pacific. Sandra Cooke is the director of communities and climate at CWN. Ryan Brotchie is GHD’s service line leader for Integrated Water Management (IWM) for the Americas.

👉   Watch the recording