Climate Change is Increasing Risks to Natural Assets and Communities

Climate change is increasing risks to natural areas such as drought, flooding, and wildfires, which place growing pressure on communities and infrastructure. Natural areas like forests, wetlands, and aquifers help reduce these risks by providing important services such as water storage, flood protection, and climate regulation.

These natural services have real value. When natural systems are degraded or lost, replacing them with engineered infrastructure such as pipes, water treatment systems, or flood control works can be costly to build, operate, and maintain.

This project has been initiated to better understand these risks and the value of natural asset services. It will also identify priorities for protecting and managing these assets for long-term resilience, cost-effective service delivery, and informed decision-making.