Advancing Municipal Natural Asset Management
In the Town of Gibsons, natural assets play an essential role in our infrastructure system. Our foreshore area provides protection from storm surges and sea level rise. Our creeks, ditches and wetlands help us effectively manage stormwater. A naturally occurring aquifer located beneath Gibsons stores and filters drinking water so pure it meets health standards without chemical treatment.
The value of these natural assets is clear to us now, but before the Town recognized their economic significance we were – in hindsight – at risk of making decisions without all the facts. We had an incomplete understanding of what our service delivery depends on, and what the implications might be, if a natural asset we relied on were to fail or deliver lower levels of service. Therefore, our planning, investment and reporting decisions and practices were narrower and more limited than was desirable.
Today, for example, we have the numbers and evidence to show that it is smarter and cheaper, by orders of magnitude, to invest in maintaining and expanding green infrastructure, such as forests, urban parks and