Community Planning in Northern Regions

Standard CAN/BNQ 9701-500
Risk-Based Approach for Community Planning in Northern Regions ꟷ Requirements and Guidance

Canada’s North is warming about two to three times faster than the world as a whole and the effects of this rapid warming, such as permafrost degradation and melting sea ice, are putting communities and infrastructure in this territory at risk.

In response, the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), through the Northern Infrastructure Standards Initiative (NISI), supports and encourages the development and implementation of standards to support the development of climate change resilient infrastructure. In that context, the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) has developed the standard CAN/BNQ 9701-500 Risk-based Approach for Community Planning in Northern Regions ꟷ Requirements and Guidance, which specifies the minimum requirements to produce land development suitability (LDS) maps with particular consideration given to climate change within a risk management framework.

LDS maps are a valuable tool for managing current infrastructure and identifying areas at risk in response to climate changes: for example, increases in air temperature and precipitation affect ground temperature, and therefore the stability of permafrost. As a result, many northern communities must deal with these effects (erosion of their land and increasing flooding. Taking these processes or events into account and analyzing the susceptibilities of the land to these processes or events are therefore decisive in drawing up LDS maps that will ensure the sustainable development of this territory.

It is important to note that the standard places community engagement at the centre of the LDS maps development process, at every stage.