PIEVC Practitioner Spotlight – Nazareth Rojas Morales

The PIEVC Practitioners' Network facilitates engagement across a multitude of stakeholders and practitioners, internationally and within Canada, who are working to enhance the resiliency of infrastructure projects to the impacts of climate change. Membership to this group is open to anyone with an interest in climate change vulnerability and risk assessments (CCVRA) for infrastructure and we strive to offer a variety of options to participate in this network to build your practice and share your expertise and lessons learned with other practitioners. To access resources, recordings of webinars, and more, sign up for the network:?

Nazareth Rojas Morales is an agricultural engineer with master's degrees in business administration, economics, sustainable development, and climate change. She currently works at the National Meteorological Institute in Costa Rica, conducting research on hydrological climate change risks. She also supports partner institutions on issues relating to risk and climate change adaptation.??

What infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to climate change in Costa Rica and what are those impacts??

Nazareth: Costa Rica is subject to extreme precipitation events. In the last two decades, Costa Rica’s historical precipitation extremes have been repeatedly exceeded with monthly rain amounts falling within a few hours. On the other side of the spectrum, Costa Rica is also experiencing water deficits caused by drought. The agricultural sector has been the most affected. I see an urgent need for improvement and planning of the operational capacities of rural aqueducts, water treatment plants, and watershed management. Another infrastructure type of concern are bridges. Although flow rates have increased, Costa Rica lacks the tools and capacity to measure flood events. Much of the infrastructure that is most impacted by climate change is also the most poorly maintained. Prior to the project implementation in Guanacaste, extreme precipitation events led to the unavailability of the main bridge leaving the only way out of the town to be 20km away on a gravel road and small bridge. In the face of extreme precipitation, the southern part of the peninsula where Guanacaste and the airport are, would be left cut off impacting the tourism industry significantly.??

How was your first experience working with the PIEVC???

Nazareth: In 2008, the Federated College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA) of Costa Rica began conversations with the National Meteorological Institute explaining the pilot PIEVC application Engineers Canada wanted to carry out in Costa Rica. Beta testing was carried out over a two-year period.?

What was your role in the risk assessment process?

Nazareth: In 2010, I worked on climate analysis and vulnerability identification for the Guanacaste rural aqueducts and aquifer project. I served as a consultant for other projects using the PIEVC methodology and was able to use my prior experiences to provide informed recommendations. ?

What are the most important lessons you learned from previous PIEVC applications??

Nazareth: When looking at infrastructure projects, I think it is important to look beyond the structural components and the services it provides and into the social, economic, and cultural aspects of the infrastructure. Engaging the local community provides insights into the needs of the residents and helps fill in gaps in areas for which climate data might not be available. Social networks, interviews with residents, and community leaders in the immediate environment are some of the most underused resources. Residents have lived experiences of climate impacts and know best what their needs are. I would encourage PIEVC users to dig a little deeper by spending time on a current state review, reviewing field notes, news articles, and disaster databases. A more holistic review always leads to factors that might have been overlooked otherwise. I also suggest for future users of the methodology to have an open mind going into a project by being willing to listen to the experiences from others and be receptive of new ideas. I find teamwork among different disciplines essential and I consider the input of infrastructure operators and maintenance staff to be crucial. ?

What are the biggest challenges or limitations you have faced with the PIEVC process? How did you overcome these challenges??

Nazareth: During the first meeting with Engineers Canada who introduced the PIEVC methodology, there were lots of questions surrounding how it was to be carried out based on its perceived complexity. I found that the best way to share the PIEVC methodology is through the use of case studies. Another large challenge with using the PIEVC methodology has been the language barrier. When Engineers Canada presented the methodology in Costa Rica, it was done in English. Although this is not a problem for current practitioners, it limits the adoption potential of the methodology with other institutions outside of CFIA and the National Meteorological Institute in Costa Rica. The language barrier has been minimized as local practitioners take lead on capacity building. I also see a significant improvement in the amount of information available on PIEVC applications, experiences, and range of infrastructure types analyzed. However, given that the PIEVC was developed in Canada, it does not account for some of the challenges faced in developing countries. For instance, Costa Rica’s weather database is not open source. Whenever a consultant wants to carry apply the PIEVC methodology, they must purchase climate data in an already constrained budget. Costa Rica’s meteorological Network is not homogenous across the country meaning that there are numerous data gaps for many parts of the country. Even with the data that is available, the parameters available do not account for information outside precipitation and temperature. In these situations, the pressing concern is where to obtain the information needed for risk analysis.?

How do you think PIEVC can help you deal with challenges to assess climate risk for infrastructure in the future???

Nazareth: I see a need for a cost-benefit analysis component to be added to the PIEVC framework in countries such as Costa Rica that have limited resources and tight budgets to work with. I think there’s also a need to demonstrate long-term saving opportunities with proper infrastructure investments to make informed recommendations. The PIEVC framework holds great promise to contribute to Costa Rica’s national adaption goals but is hindered by the limited accessibility to data resources, budgets, and capacity of critical infrastructure. ?

How can we build a strong international community of PIEVC practitioners???

Nazareth: I think that PIEVC training at the university level would be a beneficial form of capacity building and growing an international community of PIEVC practitioners. PIEVC presentations would also benefit from becoming tailored to the target audience and exploring diverse ways of conveying the message.

By Daniella Bodden and Jazmin Vargas Najera. Translated from Spanish by Jazmin Vargas Najera. For the original interview please visit: