Mesurer les progrès en matière d’adaptation au climat au Canada

The report argues that Canada lacks a comprehensive national system to evaluate the effectiveness of its climate adaptation policies, noting that current efforts are largely focused on tracking policy implementation (outputs) rather than actual resilience outcomes. It proposes a four-pillar foundation for a new M&E system: context, content, operationalization, and communication. The authors recommend that the federal government establish a legally binding mandate for M&E, integrate Indigenous knowledge, and employ a mix of quantitative indicators and qualitative methods to ensure iterative policy improvement.

• Canada currently lacks a comprehensive national monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system for climate adaptation; the only public federal assessment was a 2017 Auditor General's report that provided a snapshot of gaps without evaluating program effectiveness.
• Existing regional M&E efforts in Canada are primarily focused on monitoring the implementation of policies and measures (outputs) rather than measuring actual results in terms of adaptation and resilience.
• A robust M&E system should be built on four iterative foundations: Context (mandate, objective, and scope), Content (what is evaluated), Operationalization (data collection and analysis), and Communication (how findings are shared).
• The report distinguishes between 'outputs' (direct products like the number of people trained or new plans adopted) and 'outcomes' (actual effects on resilience, such as reduced societal exposure or stabilized agricultural yields).
• Quantitative indicators alone are often insufficient to explain how or why adaptation interventions influence vulnerability; therefore, qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups should be used in parallel.
• The authors recommend that Canada establish a legally binding federal mandate for M&E, noting that international experience (e.g., UK and Kenya) shows that laws facilitate departmental engagement and long-term consistency.
• To achieve a complete national picture, the federal government should create a working group to integrate national and subnational M&E processes and partner with Indigenous leaders to incorporate traditional knowledge systems.
• Effective communication of M&E findings requires diverse formats beyond official reports, such as interactive databases and short videos, and must be timed to inform the development of new adaptation programs.

APA

Lesnikowski, A., & Leiter, T. (n.d.). Mesurer les progrès en matière d’adaptation au climat au Canada. Canadian Climate Institute. https://institutclimatique.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Mesurer-progres-adaptation-climat-canada.pdf

Chicago

Lesnikowski, Alexandra, and Timo Leiter. Mesurer les progrès en matière d’adaptation au climat au Canada. Canadian Climate Institute, n.d. https://institutclimatique.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Mesurer-progres-adaptation-climat-canada.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{lesnikowskindmesurer, author = {Lesnikowski, Alexandra and Leiter, Timo}, title = {{Mesurer les progrès en matière d’adaptation au climat au Canada}}, institution = {Canadian Climate Institute}, url = {https://institutclimatique.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Mesurer-progres-adaptation-climat-canada.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }