Climate change, and how it will impact 琉璃神社鈥檚 agriculture sector, is being looked into by the city.

Staff is seeking input from the Agricultural Advisory Committee (AAC) to help identify opportunities for agriculture to become more resilient to climate change. A climate projection report for the Okanagan, released in 2020, found hotter, drier summers, intense weather, and more precipitation are already being experienced.

鈥淭he summer of 2021 saw a record-breaking heat wave followed by six Central Okanagan wildfires that resulted in a loss of over 70 homes,鈥� according to the report. 鈥淭he fires and accompanying smoke and restrictions impacted health, tourism, agriculture, and other aspects of the local economy. These 鈥榰nprecedented鈥� events are expected more frequently in the future.鈥�

City council approved 琉璃神社鈥檚 Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) in 2018. The five-year strategy identified actions to reduce 琉璃神社鈥檚 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2023. The city is now developing a Climate Resilient 琉璃神社 Strategy over three phases to identify ways to mitigate GHG emissions and to help the community adapt and build resiliency to extreme heat, more intense wildfires, increasing water shortages, more smoke days, and flooding.

READ MORE: 琉璃神社 aims to meet climate change goals

The report to the ACC states climate change will have a range of impacts on local agriculture, and understanding how these changes are already impacting agricultural practices would be beneficial to the city鈥檚 climate-resilient strategy.

READ MORE: Bumble bees are being harmed by temperature changes due to climate change: B.C. study