Convening for Action in British Columbia: Turning Ideas into Action On-the-Ground

Building on the momentum generated by an October 2006 presentation to the Sustainable Region Initiative Task Force, the Green Infrastructure Partnership brought its ‘design with nature' message to an audience of 80-plus at a GVRD Sustainability Community Breakfast on December 13, 2006. The presentation team was led by West Vancouver Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones and comprised segments dealing with talk, action and law. For the complete story, please click here. 

Under the umbrella of the Sustainable Region Initiative, monthly breakfast meetings provide an ongoing opportunity for network and partnership building while at the same time building awareness and understanding of urban sustainability challenges, bringing together individuals and organizations interested in the sustainability of the Greater Vancouver region.

Turning Ideas Into Action

The Water Sustainability Committe of the BC Water & Waste Association (BCWWA) is the managing partner for the Green Infrastructure Partnership. Through Convening for Action pilot programs in three regions – Greater Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and the South Okanagan – the mission of the Green Infrastructure Partnership is to provide leadership and encourage others to implement design with nature infrastructure practices and regulation province-wide.

Convening for Action is a 'made in BC' framework for building consensus and capacity by creating a picture of what the future can look like, and then showing how to create that future through implementation of design with nature infrastructure regulations and practices. “Convening for Action is grounded in the world of local government, recognizes that local government is the level of government that controls land use, and aligns federal/provincial infrastructure programs with local needs”, observed Raymond Fung, the BCWWA representative on the Steering Committee.

Because the way we develop land determines how water is used and how water runs off the land, the desire to mitigate environmental impacts has provided a driver for the ‘green infrastructure' movement.

Posted December 2006