Disaster Preparedness at Canadian Mining Sites
ABOUT
Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires impacting resource extraction sites in Canada’s boreal forest. Decision-makers at these mining sites must decide whether and how to prepare for these events. To better understand this decision making, we undertook a quasi-inductive research design employing qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).
We created surveys and distributed them to mining site managers operating in Canada’s boreal region. The surveys evaluated the respondents’ perception of the controllability of extreme weather events on operations, their psychological distance from climate change, their firm’s experience with wildfires, and their firm’s degree of disaster preparedness. Additionally, we tested the influence of the exposure of the mining sites to wildfires using historic wildfire data and GIS analysis software, integrating climate change adaptation research across physical and social sciences. This research highlights the disconnect between exposure and decision-makers’ perceptions of their vulnerability.
LETTER OF INFORMATION
Letter-of-Information-Mining-Adaptation
OUTCOMES
Lalonde, E. and McKnight, B. (2020). Assessing How Exposure Influences Disaster Preparedness: A Study Of Mining Firms In Canada’s Boreal Region. [Global Water Futures Conference; Poster Presentation]
RESOURCES
For more information about our work and related research, visit these sites.
- Our research team works as part of the Boreal Water Futures research team.
- The mining association of Canada has information related to adaptation to natural disasters.