MNAI is pleased to be one of 16 partners that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), with funding from Infrastructure Canada, selected to provide training and learning opportunities to municipalities so they can make sustainable infrastructure decisions (FCM news release here).

With this funding, the MNAI team will:

1. In the starter stream for local governments that are just starting to build natural asset considerations into their asset management practices: MNAI will provide technical assistance and support them in developing a road map to determine short- to medium-term steps.
2. In the moderate-to-advanced stream for local governments that have already made progress on natural asset management: MNAI will deliver a three-part workshop series to help them make progress in defining levels of service for natural assets, build natural asset considerations into their climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, and build awareness of implementation stage actions that can be incorporated into asset management and other plans.
3. Develop and share a legal primer to explain the latest jurisprudence related to natural asset management and highlight potential legal issues and liability for local governments.

Why? Natural assets like forests, wetlands, open green spaces and foreshores underpin Canadians’ quality of life and help build resilience to climate impacts. Natural assets deliver multiple services to communities, many of which local governments rely on directly for cost-effective service delivery. Natural assets play a role in delivering stormwater services, protecting drinking water quality, supporting public health and recreation, contributing to climate mitigation and adaptation, and protecting biodiversity. 

Despite the growing recognition of the important role natural assets play in achieving sustainable service delivery, the local government sector as a whole is still at a very early stage of considering natural assets as part of their core infrastructure system, or as an asset class that they should manage the way they manage engineered or built infrastructure assets. 

This FCM-funded program will enable MNAI to support the sector in integrating natural asset management considerations into their overall asset management practices. Check back later on our website and our newsletters for details on how to participate.