From September 16th to 20th, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities hosted its annual convention, Ride the Wave 2024 in Vancouver, B.C. This gathering of local government representatives allows municipalities and their networks to meet, collaborate, and synergize amidst a shared set of challenges and perspectives within the larger provincial landscape. The 2024 convention offered a broad scope of programming for knowledge exchange, networking, and policy dialogue around a diversity of topics ranging from housing and taxation to reconciliation and natural resource management.
As part of the programming, the POLIS team partnered with Coree Tull (BC Watershed Security Coalition) and Lina Azeez (Watershed Watch Salmon Society) to deliver the workshop “Floods! Droughts! Watershed Security! Working Together Towards Resilient Communities.”
The workshop featured a panel of water policy experts, legal advisors, and local government leaders, including Deborah Carlson (Westcoast Environmental Law), Jason Lum (Chair, Fraser Valley Regional District), Blair Ireland (Chair, Regional District of Central Okanagan), and Aaron Stone (Chair, Cowichan Valley Regional District). It was moderated by Coree Tull and closing remarks were offered by Oliver M. Brandes (POLIS).
Through the lenses of local economies, food security, and quality of life, the workshop began by focusing on the felt impacts and repercussions of water crises in communities across B.C. It then moved into an opportunity for visioning, as panellists shared insights into their applied strategies for leveraging local and regional capacities to better advocate for their watersheds on the provincial stage.
Themes from the panellist discussion included:
- Long-term funding is required for effective governance. The provincial government must support sustainable and impactful watershed initiatives through long-term, stable funding.
- Water governance is regional in nature. Basin-level communities must be supported to be able to advocate for themselves within the larger, provincial framework.
- There must be a transition away from a “response” structure to water challenges and into a preventative and adaptive management framework.
A breakout session facilitated by Rheanne Kroschinsky (POLIS) and Kristen Walters (Raincoast Conservation Foundation) enabled small-group discussion and knowledge exchange around the themes presented.
Oliver M. Brandes’ closing remarks stressed some of the identified barriers already identified, but really focused on the opportunities and urgency ahead. In particular, he spoke about the importance of collaboration (amongst Watershed Security Coalition members and other water leaders across the province, water experts (both policy and technical), and political influencers) to drive change toward new approaches to watershed governance in B.C. He believes we are the cusp of significant change and the opportunity to “win on water” is possible.
Oliver highlighted this workshop and the many partnerships already in place as glowing examples of how to advance and facilitate this necessary collaboration — not only to advance critical policy and governance reforms, but also to begin to build the kind of integrated and “whole of watershed” decision-making necessary to improve watershed security across the province.
