DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver – solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in September 2024
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on September 17th 2024 is the first of a series of reflections that preview the SYNOPSIS for the Chronicle of Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver (1994-2024). The release date for the Synopsis is November 2024.
Solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge
Storytelling is the way we share intergenerational knowledge, experience and wisdom. One of our themes is that technical stuff by itself does NOT carry the day. Rather, it is stories about champions and technical stuff that carry the day.
With our storytelling, the Partnership hopes to inspire a new generation of champions to take the intergenerational baton and run with it. It is so important that we honour, celebrate and continue to build on the legacy of the Georgia Basin Initiative.
In the 1990s, there was trouble in paradise. Sound familiar? In response, the provincial government launched the Georgia Basin Initiative and motivated regional planning through passage of the Regional Growth Strategies Act. It was all hands on deck and catalyst for the green infrastructure movement. Political leadership and commitment to a livable region plan. That is the story in a sentence.
Thirty years and counting!
“The region’s continued health and sustainability demands that we treat it as one system, not as a composite of separate and jurisdictionally distinct entities.” (extracted from page 14, Georgia Basin Initiative: Creating a Sustainable Future,1993)
“The great inland sea of the Georgia Basin – not unlike a great lake – is our common link… this region is a bioregion upon which we all base our environmental, economic and social futures.” (extracted from page 6; opening statement by Mayor Joy Leach at the Georgia Basin Initiative workshop held in Nanaimo)
Competing pressures: accommodate more people, sustain a livable region
Post-COVID, we are in an era of MEMORY LOSS, both generational and organizational. The phrase memory loss is another way of saying we don’t know what we don’t know. Meanwhile, communities are confronted by a host of issues that directly affect quality of life.
Planning without a practical lens on what is doable will not succeed. Effective solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge. But with memory loss being prevalent, deep knowledge is missing in government today. This is the elephant in the room.
“The Georgia Basin Initiative encouraged us to see the bioregion as an integrated whole, to understand that land, air, water, people, animals and fish are all interconnected.”
“Viewing our growth challenges through this more wholistic lens will give us the best chance to monitor progress, to shift gears when something is not working, and to have confidence that we are building a more livable region rather than the opposite.”
To Learn More:
To read the complete story, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Green Infrastructure Innovation in Metro Vancouver – Solutions to complex problems require deep knowledge.
