Convening for Action in British Columbia

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EAP Ecological Accounting Process

    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Reimagine urban green infrastructure as an ecosystem” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in May 2025


    Zbigniew Grabowski has made the leap from university professor and researcher to executive director of a watershed alliance. “My work is about a new paradigm that addresses root causes of water quality issues by moving away from the modernist project of humans as separate from nature. Because academic systems are not really lined up with deep transformative action, I was not able to develop an intersectoral program based on the doctoral work that I had done.I just needed to jump ship and start swimming with the current that I want to swim with.”

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    METRO VANCOUVER LEGACY RESEARCH; BENCHMARK FOR WATERSHED HEALTH: “By the late 1990s, it was clear that engineering solutions alone would not result in good stormwater management and environmental protection, nor address regulatory infraction risk,” stated Robert Hicks, a career engineer-planner in local government in the Metro Vancouver region


    “The 1992 Land Development Guidelines were about doing business differently because the status quo was not working. Municipalities were feeling the pressure to change course. So, we built on Puget Sound research and developed a watershed health rating system for our region. A trend projection from 1996 to 2036 demonstrated how the status quo would lead to a further region-wide decline in stream health. When we showed the picture of what this would look like to the Board members, they agreed that things had to change. Otherwise, things will get worse,” stated Robert Hicks.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Urban streams are municipal assets; they supply ecological services” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in April 2025


    “The Ecological Accounting Process is about the condition and financial value of municipal stream assets that supply ecological services, Urban streams are rarely managed as ecological systems or as municipal assets. When local governments obtain a financial value for streams as spatial assets, they can include them in their asset management plans and budgets. EAP gives municipalities the methodology and metrics that will let them add streams to their asset management strategy,” stated Tim Pringle.

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    NATURE-FIRST CITIES AND URBAN ECOSYSTEM-BASED PLANNING: “Nature belongs in cities, but how do we put nature first without pushing people aside? Nature-First Cities reveals the false dichotomy of that question by recognizing that people and nature are indivisible,” stated Sean Markey, Simon Fraser University professor and book co-author


    “Nature-First Cities is not a heavy academic book. We wrote it to be inspirational. We challenge readers to understand why we have become so disconnected from nature. There is that broader picture around rehabilitating that sense of connectivity with people and nature in cities. The other aspect of Nature-First Cities is the practicality. We put together what we call a 3-part process of how you actually do this. We showcase the science and methodology for doing nature-based stewardship, and what it would look like in two jurisdictions,” stated Shawn Markey.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: “Nature-First Cities – restoring relationships with ecosystems and with each other” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in February 2025


    Herb Hammond likes to remind audiences that the forest sustains us; we do not sustain the forest. I am a forest ecologist. I have worked primarily with Indigenous peoples for the past 40 years to help them advocate for a more ecosystem-based approach to using the land and protecting it. That experience has resulted in the development of what I now call Nature-Directed Stewardship. And this is incorporated in the book as well. Our planning system relies on identifying a network of ecosystems that become ecological reserves,” stated Herb Hammond.

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    EAP TRANSITION STRATEGY PARTNERSHIP: “There are many different parts to the Ecological Accounting Protocol. With each part comes a pathway with capacity to help local governments. The Partnership for Water Sustainability has passed EAP on to Vancouver Island University as part of the intergenerational baton,” stated Anna Lawrence, Program Coordinator for the EAP Transition Strategy Partnership


    During the 6-year period of applied research, the Partnership for Water Sustainability relied on staff at the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute and VIU students to do data analysis and GIS work. Now, with the EAP Transition Strategy Partnership, MABRRI is the program lead and the Partnership has an oversight and mentoring role. Everyone is learning together. Local government staff. The MABRRI team. VIU students. This is how you build capacity through collaboration,” stated Anna Lawrence.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Reflections on the 3-year transition strategy for embedding EAP at Vancouver Island University – Regional District of Nanaimo experience” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in October 2024


    “The RDN completed a natural assets inventory which identifies where we think all the natural assets are within the region. But we have not identified which have a definable service. With French Creek, we are hoping that we can identify some of those peripheral areas within French Creek, generate some M&M (maintenance and management) figures, and merge the inventory and asset management approaches. A measure of convergence is when you have a real number that you can use for pragmatic planning,” stated Murray Walters in explaining selection of French Creek.

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    EAP TRANSITION STRATEGY PARTNERSHIP: “We have seen the value of natural asset management ever since we did Buttertubs Marsh in 2016 and Millstone River in 2020. Moving forward with it is a key driver within City Plan: Nanaimo Reimagined,” stated Bill Sims, General Manager of Engineering and Public Works with the City of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island


    “Nanaimo is all-in with our commitment to EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process. This commitment derives from the Community Charter where one of the Council’s primary duties is stewardship of the community’s assets. We are getting better and better all the time at stewarding the gray infrastructure assets. Now we must do the same with natural assets. When the EAP Partnership idea came up, the most attractive element was the ability to pass on the torch from our generation and the older generation to the next generation without losing the experience and the knowledge that we have intrinsically built up,” stated Bill Sims.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Reflections the 3-year transition strategy for embedding EAP at Vancouver Island University – City of Nanaimo experience” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in October 2024


    “I came into the EAP process with a completely different background because my master’s degree is in Sustainable Leisure Management. So, it was a journey to get my head around the jargon and the different viewpoints and ways of thinking. This applied not only to the development of the EAP methodology but also to the different stakeholders. The 3-year transition strategy for embedding EAP at VIU has multiple layers and partnerships and there are many moving parts to keep in balance,” stated Anna Lawrence.

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    CONVENING FOR ACTION AT THE 2024 BC LAND SUMMIT: “The Partnership hopes that the summit will prove to be a seminal moment in sparking an attitude change about land and water. Time will tell,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability (May 2024)


    “Held every five years as a 3-day event, the BC Land Summit is a watershed moment for showcasing new ideas. The target audiences are those involved in some form of land-related profession. In 2024, the Partnership for Water Sustainability delivered two 90-minute interactive sessions under the banner Caring for the Land Means Going Beyond Just Doing Enough. These sessions were cascading and integrated. A desired outcome is that they would spark innovation and collaboration, by providing valuable insights about the use and conservation of land and water,” stated Kim Stephens.

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