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Climate Change & Ontario's Greenbelt

Global Day of Action on Climate Change is upon us. On Saturday December 3, 2011, United Nations leaders will meet in Durban, South Africa to discuss the impacts and find solutions to climate change on a global scale. 

Surrounding many towns and cities in Southern Ontario, Ontario's Greenbelt is a litmus test on the capacity to adapt to the effects of climate change. Attached is a recent report examining the potential impacts of climate change on the long-term viability of the Greenbelt. The report also proposes ways to better understand, asses, and explain impacts and measures to help adapt. The main focus on the Greenbelt Plan's main areas of concentrations: natural heritage, agriculture, recreation, and infrastructure. 

Written by Ray Tomalty, PH.D and Bartek Kommorowsji, MUP at Smart Cities Research Services, this information will help Ontarians understand some of the impacts climate change may have on the Greenbelt's natural environment, and in turn, our lives in Southern Ontario. 

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The Greenbelt Foundation is

  • Funding visionary planning processes such as the new Cootes to Escarpment Park Management Plan, and a massive reforestation plan in Rouge Park

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel, U of T. City of Toronto Facilities and Markham

  • Increasing amount of Greenbelt food in food share program 140%

  • Supporting the creation of an award-winning Greenbelt granola bar

  • Supporting development of action plans for a variety of agricultural areas and commodities

  • Engaging with over 170 million Ontarians directly through our marketing, events and communications activities

  • Contributing $2.65 million to Greenbelt farmers to improve their operations (leveraging millions of dollars from federal sources), and to employ the opportunities of the Green Energy Act

  • Building a local food economy from developing new markets to enhancing distribution channels

  • Developing a successful culinary tourism platform for Niagara

  • Supporting tourism initiatives including in the Niagara and Caledon areas

  • Securing local food procurement commitments for Peel schools, City of Toronto, City of Markham and others

  • Partnering with Harbourfront Centre to tell the story of Ontario’s Greenbelt to 12 million people via a year-long, outdoor photography exhibit

  • Supporting changing the City of Toronto policy to adopt a local food purchasing bylaw for city facilities

  • Hosted the first ever Global Greenbelts Conference in Toronto in March 2011 with speakers and delegates from over nine countries

  • Supporting the development of multi-cultural crops and training new Canadian Farmers

  • Supporting food policy council in Durham to create food charter

  • Supporting the creation of new multi-cultural crops and development of ethnic local food guides in Toronto and York Region

  • Supporting the Credit Valley Conservation Authority to protect and restore wetlands

  • Contributing to greater sales of Greenbelt wines at the LCBO

  • Engaged Hamilton schools to switch to Greenbelt food for their students

  • Assisting in designing new policies to protect Lake Simcoe through timely research

  • Funding the Holland Marsh Growers’ transition from an export, commodity focus to one that serves the local market with value- added products

  • Reaching over 75 million by placing 220 permanent highway and regional road signs to ensure Ontarians and visitors know about this valuable protected area

  • Successfully merging social welfare initiatives with environmental concerns

  • Supporting the Ontario Greenbelt Alliance to foster strong Greenbelt Plan implementation at the municipal level

  • Funding policy changes to encourage more local food to be sold in Durham

  • Enhancing Farmers’ Markets, increasing sales for farmers in the Greenbelt and beyond

  • Identifying barriers to opening markets for Greenbelt farmers and proposing solutions

  • Participating strategically in growing the Greenbelt by working with Toronto, Peel, Halton, and Guelph

  • Bridging farming and hiking interests to acknowledge environmental progress by farmers

  • Funding research and analysis on greenbelts around the globe which concluded that Ontario’s Greenbelt is the most robust in the world, with a strong legal and policy framework

  • Creating Greenbeltfresh.ca, the leading electronic marketplace to source local, Greenbelt foods from over 600 producers

  • Convincing Peel school boards to buy Greenbelt food for students

  • Creating a network of Farmer’s Markets to help improve our local food economy

  • Hosting the successful Tour de Greenbelt to promote Ontario’s Greenbelt as a tourism destination

  • Bringing thousands of Ontarians out into the Greenbelt each year through grantee activities and the Annual Tour de Greenbelt cycling event

  • Supporting interested Greenbelt Farmers to Go Organic

  • Providing grants and support to significantly increase sales at farmers’ markets

 
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