Combatting Canada’s Rising Flood Costs: Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option

The report argues that government efforts to limit flood risk through natural infrastructure are consistent with fiduciary responsibilities and good governance. It identifies a need for frameworks to guide the selection of natural infrastructure over grey infrastructure and notes that Canada faces increasing flood risks from fluvial, pluvial, and coastal sources.

• Government actions to mitigate flood risk can align with and strengthen their fiduciary duty to maintain good governance.
• There is a requirement for a framework to guide decision-makers who are considering natural infrastructure solutions, in addition to methods for comparing the utility of natural infrastructure against grey infrastructure for risk mitigation.
• Canada is experiencing increasing flood risks originating from three primary sources: fluvial (rivers and lakes), pluvial (intense rainfall in urban areas), and coastal (storm surges and rising sea levels).

APA

International Institute for Sustainable Development (2018). Combatting Canada’s Rising Flood Costs: Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/combatting-canadas-rising-flood-costs-natural-infrastructure-underutilized

Chicago

International Institute for Sustainable Development. Combatting Canada’s Rising Flood Costs: Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option. 2018. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/combatting-canadas-rising-flood-costs-natural-infrastructure-underutilized.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=International Institute for Sustainable Development |title=Combatting Canada’s Rising Flood Costs: Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option |date=18 September 2018 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/combatting-canadas-rising-flood-costs-natural-infrastructure-underutilized |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{internationalinstituteforsustainabledevelopment2018combatting, author = {{International Institute for Sustainable Development}}, title = {{Combatting Canada’s Rising Flood Costs: Natural infrastructure is an underutilized option}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2018}, month = sep, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/combatting-canadas-rising-flood-costs-natural-infrastructure-underutilized}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }