Coming Fall 2018: New Handbook for Water Champions
What steps do local water champions need to take to gain influence and control in watershed decision-making? This fall, the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) and POLIS Water Sustainability Project will be releasing the new Handbook for Water Champions: Strengthening Decision-Making and Collaboration for Healthy Watersheds to help readers deepen their understanding of the “how-tos” of governance with practical advice and diagnostic tools. It unpacks the deeply complex and often messy social process of making choices, taking risks, and making compromises to achieve the long-lasting solutions and positive ecological outcomes that communities want and need.
Stay tuned for more information on the handbook release, and a webinar on this topic later this fall.
Coming October 17-18, 2018: siwłkʷ (WATER) FOR ALL – OUR RESPONSIBILITY
The Okanagan Basin Water Board and the Canadian Water Resources Association B.C. Branch are hosting the conference siwłkʷ (WATER) FOR ALL – OUR RESPONSIBILITY, October 17th -18th, 2018 in Kelowna, British Columbia. The conference will look at environmental flow needs (EFN), and bring together representatives from national and international organizations engaged in water management or research, including fisheries and water managers, First Nations, regulators, policy-makers, academia, and NGOs. Register now!
POLIS is one of the co-organizers of this event, which will continue the dialogue around how B.C. can develop a robust environmental flows regime and regulatory framework. Previous events focused on this theme include the February 2016 Forum on Environmental Flow Needs in British Columbia hosted by WWF-Canada and POLIS, and the October 2015 Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar Environmental Flows and Healthy Watersheds: Towards Protection in Canada and B.C.
One focus of the upcoming conference will be the current state of EFN-setting in B.C. and recent EFN-related work in the Okanagan and elsewhere in Canada and the United States. The POLIS Water Sustainability Project’s Rosie Simms will speak at the Policy session.
Coming Fall 2018: Creating a Blue Dialogue Webinar Series
October 4th will mark the launch of the ninth season of the Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar series!
We will kick of the season with the webinar “From Panama to Canada: Urban Water Sustainability & Natural Asset Planning” with speakers Vic Adamowicz (University of Alberta), Gayle SooChan (Credit Valley Conservation), and Tatiana Koveshnikova (Credit Valley Conservation). Around the globe, local governments are shifting to natural asset planning for urban water sustainability. In this webinar, the speakers will describe communities that are doing the interdisciplinary work required to better understand and account for natural assets, such as creeks, aquifers, and forests, in their municipal planning.
Registration details coming soon!
The 2018/2019 Creating a Blue Dialogue season is being co-hosted by the POLIS Water Sustainability Project and the Water Economics, Policy and Governance Network (WEPGN) with a focus on research developed by WEPGN researchers and partners. The series brings together expert water practitioners and thinkers, as well as emerging water leaders, to engage with innovative ideas on water policy and governance in Canada. By creating an online community of interest, the series strengthens the national capacity to engage with and solve problems, and raises awareness about emerging Canadian water issues, best practices, and policies.
