 Watershed
Governance
Canada stands at a watershed concerning
freshwater management. Despite being one of the few relatively water-rich
nations of the world, Canada’s freshwater resources are under
threat. Pollution, wasteful habits, poor management, increasing
urbanization and the looming spectre of climate change conspire
to create scarcity. Yet the current approach to water management
and governance continues to reinforce the supply-oriented status
quo. In Canada a water crisis will be of our own making.
The watershed is the logical starting point for sustainable
water management. To maintain reliable future water supplies and
healthy aquatic ecosystems, all actions must be considered for their
cumulative impact on watersheds. This moves demand management from
being an “add-on” solution to becoming a foundational
tool for watershed managers, water planners and all water users
up and down the watershed. Watershed management shifts the focus
from managing water resources toward managing how people live as
watershed citizens.
Watershed governance is a manifestation of ecological
governance as it relates to water. It includes the institutional
and legal shift toward ecologically based water allocations, ecosystem-based
land and water use decisions, comprehensive demand management and
soft path approaches. The overarching goal of watershed governance
is to provide alternatives to current systems of water governance
and planning that are focused too narrowly on water in isolation
from its broader interactions across sectors and within the ecosystem.
As an applied concept, watershed governance can help guide Canada's
senior governments in their efforts to develop water sustainability
– through institutional, legal and governance reform.
From research to action
Water Policy in BC: Directions and Possibilities for the BC Real Estate Association - prepared for the BC Real Estate Association in March 2007 by Oliver Brandes and Jon O'Riordan.
The newly formed Gordon Water Group of Concerned Scientists and Citizens has recently released Changing the Flow: a Blueprint for Federal Action on Water (full document and executive summary). The report outlines the steps necessary to create an effective freshwater strategy in Canada. The Gordon Water Group (which was founded in part by three POLIS Research Associates) brings together a number of organisations, including the Water Sustainability Project and scientific expertise on sustainable water management.
As part of the Prairie Water Coalition, POLIS research associate Tony Maas was lead author on the Prairie Citizens' Water Directive, which was released in September 2007 as a discussion draft. The report provides concise direction on how citizens expect governments to manage freshwater resources.
Members of our team assisted with planning and participated in the Water Policy in Canada National Workshop Series 2006 hosted by Pollution Probe. The final report from the series highlights our work in this area.
“Moving Water Conservation to Centre Stage”
by Oliver M Brandes, David Brooks and Michael M’Gonigle in
Eau Canada: The Future of Canada’s Water,
Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006.
“What we govern and what governs us: Developing
sustainability in Canadian water management,” by Oliver M.
Brandes and Tony Maas. Working paper first presented at the Canadian
Water Resources Association 59th Annual Conference in Toronto, June
2006.
"At a Watershed: Ecological Governance
and Sustainable Water Management in Canada" by Oliver M Brandes,
Journal of Environmental Law & Practice,
Vol 16(1), November 2005. [Abstract
or Full
text]
Review
of the Draft Annex 2001 Implementing Agreements to the Great Lakes
Compact.
The POLIS Project and Friends of the Earth Canada
were invited by the Gordon Foundation to review drafts of the Implementing
Agreements for Annex 2001 and make recommendations to the Council
of Great Lakes Governors in September, 2004. Research associate
Tony Maas is an active member of the Great Lakes Charter Annex advisory
panel and Water Conservation & Efficiency work group.
Additional resources
Canada
West Foundation
Canadian
Water Network (CWN)
Environmental
Law Centre - University of Victoria
Gordon
Foundation Freshwater Resources Programme
Guelph
Water Management Group
- University of Guelph
Program
on Water Issues (POWI) - Munk Centre
Program
on Water Governance - University of BC
Sierra
Club of Canada
Watershed
Watch Salmon Society
West
Coast Environmental Law (WCEL)
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