Settlement, Economy and Ecology in Balance: Partnership Releases Agenda for "CAVI Forum within the 2012 VIEA Summit"

October 18, 2012 - Posted in 2012 State of the Island Economic Summit, Uncategorised

 

 

Note to Reader:

 

Painting a Picture of a Desired Future

“The Forum has two halves: first, LOOK BACK at what has been accomplished by the CAVI initiative over the past six years; then, LOOK AHEAD to paint a picture of settlement,ecology and economy in balance. Commencing in 2007, the CAVI experience demonstrates how to move from awareness to action on-the-ground in the local government setting,” explains Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia. He is the Forum faciliator, and will co-narrate with Eric Bonham.

“Each hour includes a panel and a featured presenter. The Hour #1 panel will bring to life the defining moments along the timeline for the period 2006 through 2012. Hour #1 will conclude with a case study presentation on the Regional District of Nanaimo’s Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Plan. Mike Donnelly, the RDN’s Manager of Water Services, will elaborate on the approach used to establish region-wide functions for both watershed protection and economic development.”

“The theme for Hour #2 is ‘we are doing it’. The panel will highlight the importance of parallel inititiatives that together begin to create the big picture. These include the Inter-Regional Education Initiative led by the Partnership for Water Sustainability, the Linking Leaders Project led by VIEA, and the Agricultural Water Demand Model led by the Ministry of Agriculture. These are real.”

“Eva Kras, visionary and author, is the featured presenter in Hour #2. Her observations will provide the springboard to the town-hall sharing segment.” 

 

A New Form of Governance

“We will paint the potential of the big picture, noting the benefit of a partnership of the various players working towards a common Vancouver Island vision that aims focuses on sustainability in its many facets and brings together settlement,ecology and economy in balance. This could be a prototype of a new and effective form of governance that is based upon the principle of top-down bottom-up collaboration with each partner having a significant role to play in the creation and evolution of the vision,” adds Eric Bonham. A former Director in two provincial government Ministries, he is a founding member of the CAVI Leadership Team.

“The role of Eva Kras is a very valuable one in that Eva can cast the CAVI-VIEA initiative within a broader context based, upon her international observations and, as a result,can acknowledge its (CAVI-VIEA) partnership potential. Such observations bring credibility to our efforts and, aligned with sound and accurate media coverage, will broaden both the understanding and acceptance of the initiative as we raise the idea of a Vancouver Island vision,” concludes Eric Bonham.

“Vancouver Island presently runs the risk of a dangerous situation: a conflict between water and land interests, that is, between ecology and economics,” observes Eva Kras. “As I see it, the presence of Mark Carney at the Summit is VERY important to emphasize that ‘you are on to something important’ in his mind. We should not underestimate the likely significance of that consideration.”

“On the ground , it appears to me that VIEA and CAVI  working together are in an important position —-at the forefront of this challenge. The fact that the process has already had some practical success (CAVI’s work success over several years) is key to confirming the critical importance of collaboration.  As a result, Vancouver Island has a huge possibility, and responsibility, to form a type of model that communities in Canada can look to for ideas, related especially to the concept of collaboration, even though the actual implementation will differ by region.”

 

To Learn More:

To download a copy of the Agenda for the “CAVI Forum within the 2012 VIEA Summit”, click here.