DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Communities need annual budgets to tackle the Riparian Deficit along streams” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in March 2023
Note to Reader:
Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on March 21, 2023 featured the story behind the story of the Nested Concepts graphic. The Partnership for Water Sustainability created it to help local governments move past rhetoric, address the disconnect between oversight of land use and responsibility for stream condition, and establish annual budgets for stream and riparian area restoration.
Communities need annual budgets to tackle the Riparian Deficit along streams
“Partnership for Water Sustainability experience is that effective knowledge sharing is facilitated by communication tools that make it easy for audiences to grasp and absorb foundational concepts,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“At the conclusion of the 6-year program of applied research to evolve the methodology and metrics for EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, Tim Pringle and I identified the need for a clear and compelling graphic that would encapsulate the essence of EAP.”
Consequences of weak oversight are measurable
As the EAP methodology and metrics evolved, we landed on the concept of the Riparian Deficit. In the local government context, the Riparian Deficit shows the magnitude, a measurable consequence, of the disconnect between land use oversight and direct responsibility for maintenance and management (M&M) of stream corridor conditions.
“In the report series, Striking a Balance, the BC Ombudsperson identified failure by local government to employ adequate oversight of stream systems. Historical land use decisions often have resulted in stream systems being ‘leftovers’ in development that alters watersheds and stream corridors.”
“The Riparian Deficit shows the magnitude or measurable consequence of weak oversight and failure to manage stream corridors and adjacent riparian areas.”
How we change what we are doing on the landscape
“It required a process for us to develop the Nested Concepts graphic. How will the graphic be used, we asked ourselves? How do we communicate with a range of audiences, from academics to political folks, about core concepts?”
“When the smoke cleared, we had distilled the essence of EAP into a set of succinct statements that we believe paint a picture and thus tell a story. In a very real sense, it is a case of less being more. We knew we had to keep it simple. Once we had the words right, a graphics designer brought our words to life in a visual way.”
To Learn More:
To read the complete story published on March 21st 2023, download a PDF copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Communities need annual budgets to tackle the Riparian Deficit along streams.
DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/03/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_EAP-Nested-Concepts-graphic_2023.pdf
