BC Rural & Remote Health Research Network

On June 26, 2009, the BC Rural and Remote Health Research Network and the BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network jointly hosted a research panel and networking event on Climate Change and Health in Rural and Remote British Columbia. Held at Simon Fraser University’s Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Vancouver, the event was well attended, with over 70 participants, representing several BC universities (including the four PICS universities, Thompson Rivers University, Royal Roads University and the Justice Institute) and provincial government agencies, NGO’s and others concerned with health, environment, and social development. Participants who were unable to attend in Vancouver joined in remotely via WebEx, an online teleconferencing platform.

The morning sessions provided informative and thought-provoking reviews of the state of knowledge with respect to climate change impacts in rural and remote BC and the ability of health authorities and other public agencies in industrialized countries to adapt to climate change impacts.  The late morning session began with descriptions of three currently active climate change-related projects in BC: the Climate Justice project (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives), the Communities Adapting to Climate Change Initiative (Columbia Basin Trust), and Climate Change, Disasters and Sustainable Development: Responses and Adaptations in British Columbia's Small Cities and Rural Communities (Thompson Rivers University). These presentations were followed by a presentation by Tim Takaro from Simon Fraser University (who also served as the moderator for the event) on the PICS White Paper, Climate Change and Health in British Columbia. Diana Allen, also from SFU, then gave an overview of PICS, including the mandate and structure of PICS and the new research agenda and four research themes.

The remainder of the day was given to a lively discussion on climate change and health in rural and remote BC, including future directions in research. In fact, there was such a high level of engagement that the moderator and participants decided to continue the discussion beyond the 3:00 pm scheduled wrap-up time.  Participants highlighted the need for interdisciplinary and collaborative research efforts to explore climate change and health, and ways to incorporate climate change information into the tools used by decision-makers and planners. Funds are available from BCRRHRN and BCEOHRN to provide seed money for getting grants and teams organized (more information is available at www.bcrrhrn.ca and www.bceohrn.ca). One suggestion that emerged from the discussion was the creation of a database of data sources (a “who has what” and “how can I find the data” site) that might be useful in climate change-related research across a range of disciplines.  Datasets including health data and water quality data collected at the local or regional levels, climate proxy data, etc. There was also some discussion about the involvement of other BC universities as research partners in PICS. Remote participants indicated interest in holding similar panels/networking events in the North and the Interior of BC.