ICLR Friday Forum: Managed Retreat and Home Buyouts (April 11, 2025)

On April 11, 2025, ICLR hosted a Friday Forum webinar titled 'Managed Retreat and Home Buyouts: Enhancing Flood and Climate Resilience in Canada' led by Brent Doberstein, Shaieree Cottar and Sharmalene Mendis-Millard. Managed retreat and its accompanying household-level tool, home buyouts, are increasingly being considered as communities face growing flood risks. This session outlined how managed retreat is being applied across Canada, and highlighted jurisdictional differences, innovative funding approaches, and emerging sources of guidance. Two reports were discussed: Partners for Action's Buying Out the Floodplain: Recommendations for Strategic Relocation Programs in Canada and NRCan-funded Planned Retreat Approaches to Support Resilience to Climate Change in Canada. Dr. Brent Doberstein is an Associate Professor in the University of Waterloo Department of Geography and Environmental Management. He has been engaged in hazard, disaster, and climate change adaptation teaching and research in Canada and abroad for over 20 years, focusing most recently on managed retreat. He is currently PI on a three-country, $2.45m 2024-2028 NFRF-I grant entitled Retreating from Risk: Decision Supports for the Equitable Implementation of Retreat to Build Climate Resilience. Dr. Shaieree Cottar is a Research Associate affiliated with Partners for Action based out of the University of Waterloo. She has a breadth of experience researching for organizations such as the Climate Risk Research Group and the Canadian Coastal Resilience Forum. Shaieree's research primarily focused on climate change adaptation and Canadian policies related to disaster recovery, managed retreat and resilience building against natural hazards. Sharmalene Mendis-Millard is the Director of Partners for Action (P4A) and mixed-methods geographer who is passionate about non-profits and harnessing academic resources for community benefit. Under her leadership, P4A has advanced work with faculty and students across disciplines and cross-sectoral collaborators on equity in disaster risk reduction and risk assessments, and adaptation strategies such as managed retreat and multi-hazard retrofits. About Partners for Action: P4A advances equity-informed flood resiliency through collaborative and applied research, and seeks to empower Canadians with FloodSmartCanada.ca and ClimateResilientRetrofits.ca for evidence-based preparedness. A Faculty of Environment initiative co-founded by Cooperators and Farm Mutual Re, P4A has led work on equity and community engagement in risk mapping, inclusive risk communications, and flood policy and foresight.