CSLA Resource Library

The Manitoba Climate Adaptation Guidebook, developed by the IISD and supported by Manitoba’s Climate Action division, helps municipalities create climate adaptation plans through a five-step process: starting the planning, assessing climate risks, developing adaptation strategies, implementing actions, and monitoring progress. The guidebook includes practical tools like a workbook with worksheets, a vulnerability and risk assessment guide, and instructions for using the Climate Atlas of Canada. These resources support communities in understanding and addressing climate impacts through informed, ongoing adaptation planning.

Bill 198, the Ontario Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Act, 2024, proposes a framework to strengthen the province’s response to climate change impacts. It requires the creation of a strategic action plan to protect people, communities, infrastructure, and the environment from climate risks. The bill establishes an Adaptation Fund to support initiatives, a Resource Centre to provide information and tools, and a government secretariat to coordinate climate adaptation efforts across ministries. The focus is on collaborative, science-based planning that prioritizes vulnerable populations and ecosystems.

In the last few years, a focus on conserving and increasing biodiversity has gained significant traction, including within the design and development disciplines. From large-scale actions like the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to recently implemented regulations like the United Kingdom’s Biodiversity Metric to more grassroots movements for pollinators and native plants, biodiversity issues are core to the work of landscape architects. Although most designers now recognize the importance of biodiversity, there is still a lack of clarity surrounding what the larger biodiversity movement means for the work of landscape architects and the business of landscape architecture, how it can be meaningfully conserved or enhanced through existing modes of practice, and where the (Ana Alvarez / Keith Bowers / David Maddox / Kristina Hill) conversation about biodiverse landscapes will go next. In this webinar , three expert panelists consider these big questions in a high-level dialogue about the biodiversity trends that landscape architects need to know.

Reviews the fundamentals of the biodiversity crisis and explores ways landscape architects can apply conservation science and design practices to protect and enhance biodiversity. Speakers: Keith Bowers, Sohyun Park, David Cutter

Covering every Canadian treaty from 1763 to the present, the Yellowhead Institute's Treaty Map aims to challenge the commonly held view of treaties as land surrenders and offers a comprehensive, interactive learning and teaching tool, grounded in Indigenous perspectives of treaties.

Use this interactive web map to find nurseries and stores specializing in native plants across Canada. This web map is created and maintained by Network of Nature developers and volunteers. This map was last updated to the best of our abilities in early 2024. 

Canada’s current provincial and national risk assessment frameworks focus predominantly on the built environment and infrastructure, neglecting the more extensive social-ecological system. This narrow focus fails to capture the full extent of climate risks or contexts, particularly those affecting Indigenous communities, and excludes the social and political structures that compound risk within Indigenous communities. While Canada is grappling with applying a standard risk assessment framework, Indigenous communities, nationally and globally, are deeply concerned that such limited understandings of “risk” could contribute to neglecting climate impacts within the larger ecosystems. 

The goal of these guidelines is to make it easier for landscape architects to more effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from project design and construction. Sections cover seven key design principles and 18 areas of specification. These guidelines are written for landscape architects and designers, specifiers, contractors, manufacturers, and leaders in our discipline and industry who want to cut emissions and increase carbon sequestration faster. They are thematic and condensed to provide a “CliffsNotes” overview of best practices.

Climate equity is an approach that applies an equity framework to how we experience, understand, and respond to climate change. It ensures the equitable distribution of climate protection efforts and reduces the unequal burdens created by climate change. The Practical Guide to Promoting Climate Equity in Coastal Climate Change Adaptation is a tool developed by the SHIFT Collaborative for Natural Resources Canada's Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities (CCRC) Program to support practitioners in developing more inclusive and equitable climate projects.  Craig, K., Klein, K. & Aixin, L. (2024). Practical guide to promoting climate equity in coastal climate change adaptation. 46.

This guide offers a phase-by-phase structure to decarbonize design through big ideas, strategies, and best practices. It is high-level, offering approaches that can be implemented regardless of project type, scope, and scale. The guide offers decarbonization opportunities for: Project kickoff, Schematic design, Design development, Construction documents, Construction administration, Operations and maintenance 

"Landscape architects need to better understand how local and state governments and developers calculate economic benefits and make go or no-go decisions on projects. This guide will help ASLA members: Understand the economic and financial context in which public and private clients operate; Become familiar with basic economic language and better communicate with clients about economic benefits; Show the benefits of using nature-based solutions in different types and sizes of projects"

The products and materials that landscape architects specify for their projects play a significant role in the overall global warming potential (GWP) of a project. They can also impact biodiversity, air and water quality. The guide outlines how environmental product declarations (EPDs) and other environmental reporting can be used to understand the environmental impacts of landscape materials and products and make decisions to reduce those impacts. It defines the standard types of environmental data that are applicable to landscape design and construction and helps landscape architects navigate product and material research. Landscape architects will learn about EPDs and other types of reporting and how they can inform decision making. Product manufacturers seeking to develop EPDs will gain new insights.