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Ecological Accounting Process

    DOWNLOAD THE “SERIES AT A GLANCE” to learn about the programs for each event in the Vancouver Island Symposia Series on Watershed Stewardship in a Changing Climate


    “The over-arching message for the Vancouver Island series is applicable to any region. Simply put, it is to focus on improving where people live through implementation of good strategies. These will provide communities with a path to success. There are two guiding principles. First, reconnect hydrology and ecology – because what happens on the landscape matters to streams! Second, shrink our destructive footprint while growing the restorative footprint – because sustainable is attainable,” stated Kim Stephens.

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    WATERSHED MOMENTS, THE VIDEO TRILOGY: “In 2020, the Watershed Moment team succeeded in our mission to create a broadcast quality legacy resource. We are thrilled that Shaw Cable has televised the trilogy multiple times across Vancouver Island. It is the resource that keeps on giving,” stated Paul Chapman, Chair, Vancouver Island Symposia Series on Water Stewardship in a Changing Climate


    COVID has changed and challenged how everyone does outreach and peer-based education. The Watershed Moments team turned COVID into an opportunity to create a legacy educational resource – the Watershed Moments video trilogy. In 2021, the 3-part series was broadcast twice by Shaw Cable – first in January-February and then again in August-September, reported Jocelyn Matwe, producer with the Shaw Spotlight Nanaimo team. Each time the broadcast cycle was three times.

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATION INITIATIVE: “The IREI is a unique mechanism for growing a network based on shared aspirations and delivering results across organizational boundaries. It differs in every way from building an organization in any conventional sense,” stated Derek Richmond, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


    The pressing need for timely, affordable, and effective solutions is the driver for the IREI. A goal of collaboration is to build local government capacity, capability, and competence to deliver on expectations. The IREI program brings the right people together in constructive ways with good information, such that they create authentic visions and strategies. “The Ambassadors Program complements the IREI Program and is emerging as a foundation piece for inter-generational collaboration. This was the breakthrough to articulate our need for succession planning and sustainability of the network,” stated Derek Richmond.

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    WATER SUSTAINABILITY AND ASSET MANAGEMENT ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED: “Our understanding of water balance as a point to build relationships continues to grow,” stated Paul Chapman, Chair of the Watershed Moments Symposia Series on Vancouver Island (November 2022)


    “Our understanding of ‘water balance’ has grown beyond the graphics of how water travels across a landscape, is absorbed or taken up to be distributed again. Water balance at a very key level is about our relationship with water and with each other. We design and build our communities based on our relationship to water. Our neighbourhoods arise from this relationship. Resilient communities will embrace the language and lessons of Sustainable Service Delivery and Eco-Asset Management. Budgets can be aligned with ecological know-how and boots in the stream to steward the critical infrastructure that is our watersheds,” stated Paul Chapman.

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATION INITIATIVE: “By accounting for and integrating the services that nature provides, communities can achieve the goal of Sustainable Service Delivery for watershed systems,” stated Liam Edwards, (a former) Executive Director with BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs, when Beyond the Guidebook 2015 was released


    ‘Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery: A BC Framework’ makes the link between local government services, the infrastructure that supports the delivery of those services, and watershed health. “The BC Framework points the way to integration of natural systems and climate change thinking into asset management. Resilient cities will be the ones that can absorb water and manage the water cycle as a closed loop,” stated Liam Edwards. The BC Framework provides context for the Ecological Accounting Process for operationalizing natural asset management.

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    FLASHBACK TO 2013: “Collaboration among Vancouver Island local governments, and with Metro Vancouver and its member municipalities, has grown steadily since 2007. The Inter-Regional Educational Initiative provides a framework for consistent application of tools and understanding on both sides of the Georgia Basin. Everyone benefits from sharing information and experiences,” stated Kim Stephens, Partnership for Water Sustainability


    “Collaboration is the pathway to a consistent approach to implementation and integration of water sustainability and green infrastructure policies and practices within and between regions. Yet there is no formal mechanism to enable or facilitate inter-regional collaboration. The Partnership fills this gap. At the heart of the IREI is ‘Beyond the Guidebook’, an ongoing initiative to provide local governments with the tools and understanding necessary to integrate the Site with the Watershed and the Stream. The IREI will help all local governments bridge the ‘implementation and integration’ gap,” stated Kim Stephens

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    BEYOND THE GUIDEBOOK 2022 / FINANCIAL CASE FOR STREAMS: “In the process of completing the Ecological Accounting Process for the Millstone River, everyone became versed in the common language of natural assets and can now bring that forward in the ongoing collaborative work ahead,” stated Julie Pisani, Program Coordinator for the Nanaimo region’s Drinking Water & Watershed Protection Program


    “The Millstone River EAP project brought together municipal and regional interests, community stewardship sector perspectives and academic research capabilities. Not only were we able to assign a proxy value to the riparian corridor land area, but we also connected this to an understanding of the integrity of its current condition — and compared a riparian deficit to an infrastructure deficit / liability. This is a powerful communication tool to elevate the importance of local policies and investment to protect and restore riparian areas for the benefit of our communities,” stated Julie Pisani.

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    FINANCIAL CASE FOR MILLSTONE RIVER ECOLOGICAL SERVICES: “The report on application of EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, will help the City look at how to improve and enhance the value of the Millstone greenway and help the City prioritize future restoration of this important natural feature that runs through the heart of our beautiful City,” stated Rob Lawrance, Environmental Planner with the City of Nanaimo


    EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, focuses on drainage and the condition and/or integrity of stream corridors. “There are many threats that are degrading our environment, such as invasive species, but there are also opportunities to enhance our environment, such as tree planting to rebuild the health and diversity of our watercourse riparian areas. The EAP process helps underscore the value of these investments into our streams and rivers and the value Nature contributes back for our community to benefit from,” stated Rob Lawrance.

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    DRINKING WATER & WATERSHED PROTECTION IN THE NANAIMO REGION: “The Millstone River and EAP (Ecological Accounting Process) project are a vignette for the bigger mandate of the DWWP. Both demonstrate project level partnerships with stewardship groups; as well as partnerships across local government jurisdictions,” stated Julie Pisani, DWWP Program Coordinator, when the Partnership for Water Sustainability’s case study report on the Millstone River EAP Project was approved by the RDN Board (April 2021)


    “The EAP methodology reflects the understanding that landowners adjacent to the stream corridor and setback zone and the broader community share responsibility for and benefit from the condition of the stream as well as the financial and ecological value of the land it occupies. The report suggests a general framework for local governments to consider in using the lens of ecological accounting within Corporate Asset Management Plans,” stated Julie Pisani.

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    GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATION INITIATIVE: “In the IREI program, we focus attention on the 4Cs – communication, cooperation, coordination, collaboration. The 4Cs guide what we do. We live and breathe collaboration. Building trust and respect starts with a conversation,” stated Richard Boase, Founding Director and Vice-President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability


    Launched in 2012, the IREI facilitates peer-based learning among local governments located on the east coast of Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland. The IREI builds on the legacy of Erik Karlsen whose leadership inspired the original Georgia Basin Initiative in 1994. “The IREI is nested within the Water Sustainability Action Plan which, in turn, is nested within Living Water Smart. Cascading is the reverse way to think about this nesting concept. Each successive layer in the cascade adds depth and detail to enable the move from awareness to implementation – that is, action.,” stated Richard Boase.

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