Recognizing the importance of acting now to effectively respond to the impacts posed by a changing climate, NRCan has created the Regional Adaptation Collaboratives (RACs) program.  The goal of this new program is to catalyze coordinated and sustained action to reduce vulnerability to a changing climate by advancing adaptation planning and decision-making.

A significant foundation of climate change impacts and adaptation knowledge and expertise resides in a number of organizations across the country.  In many cases, this foundation is sufficient to identify adaptation actions that could be taken today. 

However, to address issues of strategic regional importance through adaptation planning – that is, the process leading to a decision on whether and how to adapt to the current and potential impacts of a changing climate – additional analytical and preparatory work is needed in some cases.

The RACs program is designed to provide a mechanism to meet this need.  The program will support focused collaboration at the regional level among government, non-government decision-makers, and technical experts to facilitate regional adaptation planning and decision-making.