Vancouver Island Water

Creating Our Future on Vancouver Island – 2007 Green Infrastructure Leadership Forum celebrates successes and showcases innovation

Links to Downloadable PowerPoint Presentations

The Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities (AVICC), which represents local government on Vancouver Island, and CAVI-Convening for Action on Vancouver Island held a Green Infrastructure Leadership Forum in Nanaimo on December 3, 2007.

CAVI is a regional pilot program that is being implemented under the umbrella of the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia. By 2010, the CAVI vision is that Vancouver Island will be well on its way to achieving water sustainability.

Designed to start a conversation that will lead to a region-wide dialogue in 2008 around achieving settlement in balance with ecology on Vancouver Island, the Leadership Forum emphasized the ‘telling of stories’ to energize participants.

Links to Presentations

The goal in showcasing innovation and celebrating successes is to promote networking, build regional capacity, and move ‘from awareness to action’ – through sharing of green infrastructure approaches, tools, experiences and lessons learned as an outcome of designing with nature. To download copies of presentations delivered at the Green Infrastructure Leadership Forum, please click on the links listed below:

An integrated presentation by John Finnie, Rod Sherrell and Tim Pringle established expectations: Setting the Context
A context presentation by Kim Stephens kicked off an interactive session where the focus was on reporting out: Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation on Vancouver Island
Other local governments participating in the Leadership Forum were then invited to ‘tell their stories’ and talk about examples of green infrastructure innovation in their communities.
An overview presentation by Chris Jensen elaborated on how the mandate of the Ministry of Community Services to promote sustainable, livable communities is linked to green infrastructure and RAINwater management:Beyond the Guidebook: Designing with Nature to Create Liveable Communities that Protect Stream HealthReleased in June, Beyond the Guidebook reflects lessons learned subsequent to publication of of Stormwater Planning: A Guidebook for British Columbia in 2002.
A case study presentation by Felice Mazzoni told the story of what the District of Ucluelet is doing to assert control over its destiny during an era of rapid change: Creating Our Future in Ucluelet: from Vision to ImplementationThe development pressures on the community are constant, which creates a challenge in maintaining community character and ‘sense of place’ for residents and visitors alike.
A case study presentation by Kim Stephens on behalf of John Slater, Susanne Theurer and Tom Szalay reported out on lessons they learned in undertaking the Okanagan equivalent of A Positive Settlement Strategy: South Okanagan Regional Growth Strategy: Pilot for Water-Centric Action in British Columbia.
The South Okanagan Regional Growth Strategy is water-centric (i.e. plan with a view to water), and recognizes the relationship between land and water (i.e. in terms of both water use and water runoff). The innovation is the toolkit that follows policy, and which leads to benchmarking and monitoring/measuring what matters.