WHEREAS on April 26, 2021 Council Meeting, Council approved a motion to work on having the shared Northumberland County Environmental Officer position continued; and
WHEREAS the Sustainability and Climate Change Advisory Committee (SCCAC) has learned that the shared Northumberland County Environmental Officer Position ended as of August 31, 2021; and
WHEREAS this position has supported Cobourg to address the climate emergency, including providing Cobourg with a Climate Action Plan; and
WHEREAS a number of environmental initiatives within Cobourg’s Climate Action Plan (approved in principle by Council) and related to Cobourg’s Climate Emergency Declaration have been initiated for which the expertise of an environment expert is needed to assist existing Cobourg staff to implement; and
WHEREAS the need to address the Climate Emergency is ever more urgent as is clear in the recently released ICCP report , and is evident from the large number of uncontrollable fires across the world, and the droughts and floods in Canada and in other parts of the world; and
WHEREAS global heating is an emergency of a worse scale than the pandemic; with way more severe and long lasting consequences; and
WHEREAS it is more cost effective to implement mitigation and adaptation measures proactively than to address the impacts after they have occurred; and
WHEREAS Cobourg is beginning the process of preparing its 2022 Budget;
NOW THEREFORE the SCCAC Recommends that Cobourg:
- Environmental Officer Position: Find funds within its 2021 budget to immediately hire a full-time environmental staff expert, and also ensure sufficient funds in Cobourg’s 2022 Budget to pay for a full time environmental expert staff person to:
- help Cobourg implement the measures in Cobourg’s Climate Action Plan;
- advise on additional climate mitigation and adaptation measures for Cobourg to implement including help Cobourg staff access funds from the provincial and federal governments where available for such initiatives;
- support all departments to perform their work through a climate emergency mitigation and adaptation lens;
- help staff provide cost estimates for climate mitigation and adaptation measures Cobourg should implement so Cobourg can ensure sufficient funds in its 2022 budget to implement these measures; and
- work with the County, other municipalities within the County, and the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority to implement climate emergency mitigation and adaptation initiatives together as much as possible to maximize cost and staff resource efficiency.
- 2022 Budget: Ensure sufficient funds within its 2022 budget to implement the climate emergency mitigation measures in its current Climate Action Plan, and also provide an allowance for costs not yet identified knowing that additional mitigation and adaptation measures will need to be implemented given the dire situation we are facing.