Livable Cities Forum: Building flood resilient communities

More than 180 delegates from across Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., gathered in downtown Calgary this morning for the Livable Cities Forum. 

Hosted by The City of Calgary, Canadian Water Resources Association (CWRA) and ICLEI Canada the focus of the forum is building flood resilient communities.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks welcomed delegates on behalf of The City and the Province of Alberta.

‎Mayor Nenshi highlighted the importance of communities being resilient in both wet and dry conditions and cautioned about the incalculable costs of not mitigating future water-related events.

Minister Phillips reiterated the Government of Alberta's commitment to understanding and addressing flood resiliency issues in our province.

Following the opening remarks, Rob Wesseling of The Sovereign General Insurance Company and Paul Kovacs of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction shared their perspectives on the importance of everyone working together to build resilient communities and long-term planning when mitigating the impact of major weather-related events.

The conference will continue over the next two days. Full video coverage of this morning's opening remarks can be viewed on youtube.com/thecityofcalgary. 

For information about The City of Calgary's flood resiliency plans visit calgary.ca/floodinfo.