Sustainable Watershed Systems: CBC’s Bob McDonald headlines an all-star team of presenters in Kelowna at "FLOWnGROW Workshop" (Nov 2016)
Towards a Sustainable Water Future
The FLOWnGROW Workshop program is structured as four modules and is cascading – from high-level visioning to ground-level applications. Adaptation to a changing climate is a unifying theme. Both the urban and agricultural perspectives are represented. The workshop will explore the role of water from the global to the local. The particular journey facing the Okanagan Basin includes the impact of climate change, water security, population demand and food security issues.
Context
Managing water is critical to many sustainable development goals. Why? Water is a form maker. It defines communities. Also, the consequences of our water-centric decisions ripple through time. Recognizing these factors, FLOWnGROW is designed to spark a conversation and inform implementation of Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management. The workshop is the 4th in a series.
Why Attend?
The FLOWnGROW program is both visionary and practical. The workshop will share and explore ideas that have universal value and broad application as we travel the road towards genuine long-term water sustainability. While the workshop has an Okanagan focus, the workshop takeaways would be applicable to other areas of the province.
A ‘bold idea’ that will be showcased on November 29th is BLUE ECOLOGY. Interweaving Western science and First Nations cultural knowledge would help water and land managers communicate complex climate change impacts to decision-makers and the public, using common sense terms.
The Team
The Partnership for Water Sustainability, Irrigation Industry Association (IIABC) and Okanagan Basin Water Board have joined forces to convene the FLOWnGROW Workshop. An all-star team of presenters is headlined by CBC’s Bob McDonald. FLOWnGROW has two keynote speakers! The second is Bob Sandford, author and water champion.
A fixture in radio and television broadcasting for more than 30 years, Bob McDonald is currently the host of Quirks & Quarks–the award-winning science program that is heard by 500,000 people each week.
As a writer, he has authored four bestselling science books, and contributed to numerous textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. He holds eight honorary doctorates from Canadian universities.
A widely published author, Bob Sandford is EPCOR Chair for Water and Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. His background is in the physical sciences and his interest is our relationship with the landscape.
Our challenge is we have such a wealth of talent and such a limited time to share it !
To Learn More:
Download Flow and Grow! – Balancing Economy, Ecology and Settlement in the Okanagan for a Program Overview.
Visit the FLOWnGROW home on the Convening for Action community-of-interest: https://waterbucket.ca/cfa/category/partnership-for-water-sustainability-annual-workshop-series/2016-flow-and-grow/
To Register:
To register for the workshop, go to the IIABC website:
https://www.irrigationbc.com/page/convention-seminars
