Climate change adaptation plans (CCAP) are essential to be ready for what is to come in the next decades. Unfortunately, these require a lot of monetary and human resources to be individualized on a regional scale.

Magog's climate change adaptation plan is a good place to start to initiate the reflexion. However, this one is far from perfect and more research is needed to improve this approach, especially the vulnerability assessment and the quantification of the adaptive capacity.

My master's essay helps to familiarize with those notions and understand the challenge to assess vulnerability. I am currently working on a PhD that combines artificial intelligence and geographic information systems (GIS) (more details to come).

However, a few universal findings came out of this approach. The protection of natural environments and green infrastructure are no regrets strategies that are essential to successfully adapt. Indeed, the benefits of ecosystem services render by a healthy biodiversity confer the best cost-effective ratio in the long run.

A deep reflexion is essential in regards of territory planning that are generally led by immediate monetary consideration. If this strategy offers a short-term illusion of progress, it has been proven extremely harmful in the long term. We only need to look at all the current problems of urban heat islands, erosion and floods, as well as the bad quality of water and air in our cities that result of planning mistakes from the 20th century.

It is imperative that we escape this logic if we want to have a chance to adapt to a climate that has nothing to do with the last century.