This article is part of our Strengthening Communities Through Climate Adaptation series. Each piece shares practical ideas and offers real-world strategies to help communities plan, fund and carry out climate adaptation projects that reflect their local priorities.
In the Prairies, the weather has always been a challenge, but in recent years; it’s also been a wildcard. Extended droughts, sudden downpours and extreme heat are putting new pressure on infrastructure, water systems and municipal budgets.
For small communities, especially those working with limited staff and aging assets, the question isn’t whether to act—it’s how to do it in a way that fits your capacity and provides your community real value.
That’s where climate-ready planning comes in.
A practical first step that puts you in control
Climate-Ready Plans and Processes (CRPP) funding helps municipalities assess their vulnerabilities and create practical strategies that align with existing priorities to better reflect what’s happening in your community.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, CRPP supports work that integrates climate resilience into the tools you already use—whether that’s land use planning, asset management, infrastructure standards or development bylaws. This is crucial for protecting what’s already working in your community and for keeping services reliable in a changing environment.
You can use CRPP funding to:
- Complete a climate risk or vulnerability assessment
- Update your asset management strategy to respond to drought or flood risks
- Revise service levels to account for extreme heat or shifting weather patterns
- Revisit planning documents to limit development in areas facing high wildfire or flood risk
- Improve internal systems so your staff can make better long-term investment decisions
These types of updates not only help communities avoid future losses, they also support more efficient budgeting, stronger project proposals, more reliable services and better access to additional funding. It’s a cost-effective way to make your community more competitive and more resilient.
From planning to action
Another benefit of completing this foundational work? It helps unlock future opportunities.
CRPP is part of the Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation initiative, which also includes funding for feasibility studies and full project implementation. In many cases, having a risk assessment or adaptation plan in place is a prerequisite for these next steps.
By completing your planning work now, you’re setting your community up to access more funding down the road—and the ability to move with confidence and clarity when the timing is right.
Whether you want to implement nature-based flood protection, upgrade infrastructure to better withstand heatwaves, or reduce long-term drought risks, LLCA funding can support you on that journey. But it all starts with understanding your local risks and priorities.
Start with what matters most to your community
No two prairie communities face the exact same challenges. Some are managing water scarcity. Others are navigating seasonal flooding, heat emergencies, or fast-changing land conditions. What unites them is the need meet the growing pressure to ensure reliable, cost-effective public services.
CRPP is designed to support you on your journey to make those goals into realities. It’s not about prescribed solutions. It’s about helping your community make informed decisions with the resources and capacity you already have. After all, while similar methods can be used, no one knows the important details of your community better than the people living there.
You don’t need to do everything at once. You just need to start with a plan.
Start where you are. Whether you are ready to plan or just gathering ideas, GMF’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation initiative has tools and funding to help. You can also visit our GMF Partners events page to find practical training and learning opportunities tailored to municipalities at every stage of their adaptation work.
Explore more from this series:
- Nature is community infrastructure
- Adaptation is an investment that works for your bottom line
- Climate adaptation: You might be closer than you think
- How to make climate adaptation funding go further
- Stronger together: How regional collaboration can support climate adaptation
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