Leveraging Hazard, Exposure, and Social Vulnerability Data to Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada

Jason Thistlethwaite,Liton Chakraborty,Andrea Minano,Daniel Scott,Daniel Henstra

doi:10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

Jason Thistlethwaite, Liton Chakraborty + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-021-00383-1

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Abstract

This study integrates novel data on 100-year flood hazard extents, exposure of residential properties, and place-based social vulnerability to comprehensively assess and compare flood risk between Indigenous communities living on 985 reserve lands and other Canadian communities across 3701 census subdivisions. National-scale exposure of residential properties to fluvial, pluvial, and coastal flooding was estimated at the 100-year return period. A social vulnerability index (SVI) was developed and included 49 variables from the national census that represent demographic, social, economic, cultural, and infrastructure/community indicators of vulnerability. Geographic information system-based bivariate choropleth mapping of the composite SVI scores and of flood exposure of residential properties and population was completed to assess the spatial variation of flood risk. We found that about 81% of the 985 Indigenous land reserves had some flood exposure that impacted either population or residential properties. Our analysis indicates that residential property-level flood exposure is similar between non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities, but socioeconomic vulnerability is higher on reserve lands, which confirms that the overall risk of Indigenous communities is higher. Findings suggest the need for more local verification of flood risk in Indigenous communities to address uncertainty in national scale analysis.

Highlights

Indigenous communities in Canada, including First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples living on- and off-reserve, are often identified as among the populations most socially vulnerable to climate change (Ford 2012)
Our analysis indicates that residential propertylevel flood exposure is similar between non-Indigenous and Indigenous communities, but socioeconomic vulnerability is higher on reserve lands, which confirms that the overall & Liton Chakraborty liton.chakraborty@uwaterloo.ca
In terms of population exposure, we found that almost 98.3% of the 809 populated Indigenous reserve census subdivisions (CSDs) were exposed to some of the three types of flood hazards

Summary

Introduction

Indigenous communities in Canada, including First Nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples living on- and off-reserve, are often identified as among the populations most socially vulnerable to climate change (Ford 2012). Indigenous disadvantage and marginalization persist in part due to Canada’s colonial legacy and the intergenerational effects of residential schools (Reading and Wein 2009). Other factors, such as environmental and social injustice (Thompson 2015) and inequalities in education, employment, and income opportunities (Anderson et al 2016), are implicated. Research has revealed ways to Chakraborty et al Assess Flood Risk to Indigenous Communities in Canada locate and quantify socially vulnerable populations, which have been useful to design targeted risk reduction and awareness building strategies to reduce social vulnerability (Wisner et al 2004; Arias et al 2016; Drakes et al 2021; Tate et al 2021)

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