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The Canadian Cordillera in the province of British Columbia witnesses numerous rock falls every year. Studies on the recorded rock fall data in this area show that rock fall hazard follows weather conditions, especially precipitation and freeze-thaw cycles. This relationship indicates that a weather-based approach can be implemented to estimate possible changes in the rock fall hazard due to climate change. In this paper, we used a statistical approach to quantify the relationship between monthly weather averages and rock fall frequencies for a section of a transportation corridor along the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. In this regard, von Mises distributions are used to find the best-fitted models to the monthly precipitation and freeze-thaw cycles, and proper relative weights are applied to the models in order to calibrate them to the rock fall monthly frequency. The calibrated model is used with input data from climatic predictions for 2041–2070 and 2071–2100 to see how rock fall distribution will be affected due to climate change in the future decades. Results show that between 9 and 19%, more rock fall is anticipated in future winters. Rock falls are expected to decrease in other months, especially in October, November, March, and April. This paper presents a method to predict changes in rock fall hazard seasonality due to climate change and illustrates the method with a case study along a section of the Canadian Cordillera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater sustainability is challenged by the difference between legal and scientific understanding of groundwater, as well as the lack of focused attention to regulatory design in the literature on groundwater institutions, governance and management. The purpose of this paper is to use the scientific characteristics of groundwater to direct the necessary elements of regulatory design for this unique element. Developing interdisciplinary language that could be applied in any jurisdiction or region, the article describes seven groundwater characteristics as processes, functions, qualities, physical sustainability, scale, information and data, and physical state. Using these characteristics of groundwater embeds the scientific understanding of groundwater into regulatory design and enables the expression of new values such as Indigenous rights to water. Applying these scientific characteristics to a case study of new groundwater regulation in a subnational jurisdiction in the Global North—British Columbia (BC), Canada—highlights the failure of regulatory design even in a well-resourced jurisdiction where environmental regulation is the norm. Groundwater in BC is extremely heterogeneous in process and function, with low observation density and undefined sustainability goals where regulations are applied uniformly. Looking forward, three recommendations can be drawn using the scientific characteristics of groundwater to improve regulatory design in BC: defining sustainability goals and ecological thresholds; regionalizing and prioritizing; and long-term planning. This science-forward and interdisciplinary approach has implications for states with customary water entitlements and multiple legal orders. It also provides practitioners with an interdisciplinary language that can be useful for assessing current and future regulatory design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial lidar scanning (TLS) has become a widely accepted expert tool for monitoring geohazards on bare or sparsely vegetated slopes through change detection. While trees can be an important indicator of landslide activity at a slope, vegetation is often removed or ignored when monitoring landslides with TLS. This paper explores the use of multi-temporal terrestrial lidar scanning at a slope in the Peace River valley of British Columbia to test the author's hypothesis that tree stems in TLS data can be used to track landslide displacement and provide insight into the landslide mechanism. Six TLS datasets, each collected approximately 6 months apart, are used, and roto-translation methods are employed to determine the azimuth, plunge, and toppling angle of trees between each TLS scan. The tree displacement patterns are compared to TLS change detection results on bare-ground, and to single-point tracking techniques for extracting displacement vectors. Considerations for future applications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: British Columbia's (BC) extensive forest resources provide climate change mitigation opportunities that are available to few other jurisdictions. However, as a consequence of the Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak and large-scale wildfires, BC is anticipating reduced roundwood harvest for the next decades. Progress towards more climatically efficient utilization of forest resources is needed. This research quantitatively compared the greenhouse gas emission consequences of nine harvested wood products trade and consumption strategies. Inward-focused strategies use wood products within Canada to achieve emission reduction objectives, while outward-focused strategies encourage exports of wood products. Results: In the business-as-usual baseline scenario, average emissions arising from BC-originated harvested wood products between 2016 and 2050 were 40 MtCO2e yr−1. The estimated theoretical boundaries were 11 MtCO2e yr−1 and 54 MtCO2e yr−1, under the scenarios of using all harvests for either construction purposes or biofuel production, respectively. Due to the constrained domestic market size, inward-focused scenarios that were based on population and market capacity achieved 0.3–10% emission reductions compared to the baseline. The international markets were larger, however the emissions varied substantially between 68% reduction and 25% increase depending on wood products' end uses. Conclusions: Future bioeconomy strategies can have a substantial impact on emissions. This analysis revealed that from a carbon storage and emission perspective, it was better to consume BC's harvests within Canada and only export those products that would be used for long-lived construction applications, provided that construction market access beyond the US was available. However, restricting export of wood products destined for short-lived uses such as pulp and wood pellets would have significant economic and social impacts. On the other hand, inward-focused strategies had a small but politically and environmentally meaningful contribution to BC's climate action plan. This study also revealed the conflicts between a demand-driven bioeconomy and targeted environmental outcomes. A hierarchical incentive system that could co-exist with other market drivers may help achieve emission reduction goals, but this would require a better quantitative understanding of wood products' substitution effects. While the analyses were conducted for BC, other regions that are net exporters of wood products may face similar issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]