1. Municipal Natural Assets Initiative
2018 Atlantic Asset Management Conference
Moncton, NB
September 7, 2018

2. Presentation Outline What is the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative
Why are we involved?
What is our project?
What do we hope to accomplish

3. Problem: Canada’s built infrastructure is costly and failing
Counting on nature
Problem: Canada’s built infrastructure is costly and failing
Solution: Natural capital provides less costly, longer-term solutions
The core idea of the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative, in one sentence, is that natural assets such as wetlands, forests, and foreshores can provide services to municipalities that they would otherwise need to be delivered through an engineered asset. For example, a wetland stores water and this can reduce peak water flows and flooding, in place of engineered retention ponds and culverts.
However, almost no municipal government considers the role of natural assets in core asset and financial systems.
This matters for several reasons:
1/ Across Canada, the US and beyond, infrastructure is failing and it is costly
2/ Many major ecosystems themselves are failing
3/ The scale of the challenges is growing and not shrinking as a result of land intensification, population growth and climate change and extremes.
Stated differently, local governments need new ways to deliver services. And this is where nature can comes in.
Credit: Wayan Votaa

4. An evolution Then: Natural assets over-used & under- valued
Valuation a challenge
No structured approach to assets and/or understanding of natural capital role
Now:
Uptake of standard methodology focused on service delivery
Better valuation tools and methods
Over the last few years the natural asset landscape has been changing.
Municipalities are required increasingly to focus on assets from a lifecycle perspective. As a result of the 2009 Public Sector Accounting Board standard 3150, municipalities must now identify, value and amortize their tangible capital assets over their useful lifetime. This standard highlighted the need for proactive assessment and management of assets as communities clarified the magnitude of the value of the infrastructure they own and operate.
As the core of this modern asset management is the idea of sustainable service delivery – meaning that delivering service rather than focussing on the underlying asset is the business of government.
This means that it does not matter how the stormwater (for example) is managed. What matters if the service is delivered reliably and cost effectively.

5. Where we started: Town of Gibsons, B.C.
The Town of Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast was to the first local government anywhere to catch on to the idea of natural asset management in a big way. They went through their standard asset management process of inventorying assets, doing condition assessments, risk analyses, operating plans and so on. At the end of the process they realised that it did not account for the assets that conveyed stormwater (a forest) ; provided drinking water (an aquifer); or protected seaside areas from storm surges and sea level rise (healthy foreshore)
This led to a flurry of activity including North America’s first Asset Management plan that puts natural and engineered assets on the same footing. Since that innovation natural asset management has permeated into other areas of the Town’s planning, such as subdivision and development charge bylaws, and O&M plans for natural assets.
Some key Gibson’s Results for reference:
- Nature is a valuable asset and can save money; better management of the forest means that they do not have to pay $4M in engineered solutions for example.
DCCs have become a funding source.
Clean Water and Waste Water Fund 249k.

6. First Cohort of Community Pilots
City of Nanaimo
Town of Oakville, Ontario
District of West Vancouver, BC
The Municipal Natural Assets Initiative, took the work being done in Gibson’s and developed a methodology and guidance documents to help other local governments identify, value and manage natural assets within traditional financial and asset management planning frameworks.
To test and refine the municipal natural asset management approach and methodology, five pilot communities were selected following a national request for proposals and interview process: The City of Nanaimo, BC, Town of Grand Forks, BC, District of West Vancouver, BC, Town of Oakville, ON, and the Region of Peel, ON.
Results from the First Cohort of community pilots are available on MNAI.ca site, but overall the key findings are:
Natural assets can provide equivalent stormwater management services
Overall, results show that natural assets can provide the same level of stormwater management services as their engineered counterparts. All communities found that their natural asset of interest was meeting at least the 100-year flood storage requirements under current standards. The Region of Peel also assessed water quality management services of their natural assets of interest and found that four of five ecosystem types exceeded provincial requirements for total suspended solid removal.
Under both climate change and intensified development scenarios, the value of natural assets increased
The City of Nanaimo, the Town of Grand Forks and the Region of Peel all assessed the value of their natural assets under climate change scenarios. All found that the value of their natural assets increased under climate change scenarios because they are more resilient and adaptable than other infrastructure solutions. The Town of Oakville assessed their natural asset under an intensified development scenario with the same result – the value of the natural asset increased because it can adapt to changing levels of development pressures.
All pilot communities found that the pilot results provide grounds for investigating the value of other natural assets
The work done by the communities in these pilot projects demonstrates the value and importance of natural assets for sustainable municipal service delivery, but there is more work to be done. Based on the initial findings, each community has expressed a stronger commitment to continue assessing the value and services provided by other natural assets.
Region of Peel
Grand Forks, B.C.

7. Second Cohort of Community Pilots
A second round of community pilot projects is now underway in:
City of Courtenay, British Columbia
District of Sparwood, British Columbia
City of Oshawa, Ontario
Western Regional Service Commission, New Brunswick
Southeast Regional Service Commission, New Brunswick

8. Who is on board? Convening partners Donors
Collaborators and technical partners

9. More information: MNAI.ca
Follow us at
Notes:
us at
Credit: Laura Berman

10. Projet pilote de la Commission de services régionaux du Sud-Est
Plusieurs objectifs de planification ayant trait aux actifs
naturels :
Réduire la vulnérabilité aux inondations
Racccordements aux sentiers régionaux
Étalement
Réduction des coûts de prestation de services municipaux
2 collectivités pilotes
Riverview – gestion naturelle des eaux pluviales
Riverside-Albert – réduire les coûts de traitement de l’eau