ARTICLE: “Okanagan developers juggle growth and sustainability”
Journal of Commerce features South Okanagan initiative
In its special issue on the 2006 Annual Conference of the British Columbia Water & Waste Association, the Journal of Commerce included a feature article on Convening for Action in the South Okanagan, an initiative of the Water Sustainability Committee. The conference brought together 1000 delegates representing all aspects of the water industry in British Columbia.
As part of the conference, the Water Sustainability Committee hosted a ‘min-summit’ on Water for Life and Livelihoods in the South Okanagan. This precedent-setting approach to audience participation accomplished several objectives. First, the fact that the conference was a provincial forum raised the profile of the South Okanagan as a provincial pilot for water-centric planning. Secondly, it provided the Convening for Action team with a focus group opportunity to test an approach to engaging an audience in a dialogue. Over 100 people attended the half-day mini-summit, of which approximately 40 participated in the interactive portion.
“We focussed on the South Okanagan because it;s a ready-made pilot project that’s manageable in scale, and then we can roll out what we find across the province,” stated Kim Stephens, Program Coordinator for the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia.
TO Learn More:
To view the feature article published by the Journal of Commerce, click on this link South Okanagan article is on page 4 of the Journal of Commerce feature issue
Posted May 2006