Water-Centric Planning

2016 FLOWnGROW WORKSHOP INTRODUCED BLUE ECOLOGY LENS FOR WEAVING BEST THREADS OF INDIGENOUS AND WESTERN SCIENCE: “A decade later, our messaging about the need for Water Reconciliation is standing the test of time,” stated Michael Blackstock, independent Indigenous scholar and creator of the Blue Ecology philosophy and methodology

Note to Reader:

The March-April 2017 issue of Water Canada highlights the nature of problems in First Nations communities and explores a variety of solutions that have proven successful in Indigenous and remote communities across Canada. The March-April issue also includes an article co-authored by Kim Stephens, Michael Blackstock and Bob Sandford.

The article introduces Blue Ecology as a way to provide a holistic cultural context to enhance Western science’s knowledge of the water cycle for the benefit of hydrologists and water managers. The catalyst for the trio to collaborate and write the article was the FLOWnGROW workshop organized by the Partnership for Water Sustainability and held in Kelowna on November 29, 2016.

The enthusiastic response of the Kelowna audience to Michael Blackstock’s message led directly to the Vancouver Sun publishing an op-ed in January 2017. In turn, the op-ed caught the attention of Water Canada magazine and prompted an invitation from editor Katherine Balpataky to submit the article titled Planet Reconciliation. The title was her suggestion. “Water is the entry point for communicating and understanding climate change—we just need better ways to operationalize that understanding,” she said.

Blue Ecology interweaves best threads of Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science

“Warming of the planet’s atmosphere is causing water to move more quickly and disruptively through the global water cycle. Flood, drought, fire, wind and cold – extreme events are becoming the norm,” stated the co-authors in their opening paragraph.

“Instabilities in the water cycle are increasingly apparent. Impacts are magnified by human interventions. We have arrived at a fork in the road.”

“The situation calls for a whole-systems approach to managing the water balance distribution. The risks are too high, and the margins for error too small, to view water and watersheds only through narrow technical lenses. Adapting to changes in the water cycle and restoring the water balance starts with re-visiting our relationship with nature.”

To Learn More:

Download Planet Reconciliation to read the complete article co-authored by Kim Stephens, Michael Blackstock and Bob Sandford.

Download Water Protectors – Roles and Rights of Indigenous Canadians to read the complete set of articles in the March-April 2017 issue of Water Canada magazine.

Blue Ecology water cycle and principles, designed by Michael D. Blackstock as a companion to the conventional science-based Water Cycle.

FLASHBACK TO 2008: Kim Stephens introduced the Blue Ecology idea to a national working group on water

In May 2008, the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia hosted the second of two workshops on Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management in Canada, a project funded by Infrastructure Canada. Kim Stephens, representing the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia, was invited to make a lunchtime keynote presentation built around the theme of climate change adaptation.

Re-Examine Climate Change from a ‘Water First’ Angle

“My presentation was organized in three parts. First, I introduced the across-Canada audience to our BC adaptation of the ‘design with nature’ philosophy. Then I talked about CAVI-Convening for Action on Vancouver Island to provide an example of new forms of governance. The third and final part dealt with the linkage of infrastructure to climate change and infrastructure,” recalls Kim Stephens.

“To capture audience attention and set a tone, I opened with a reference to Blue Ecology and Climate Change, an article by Michael Blackstock that was published in the BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management.”

“An imperative for achieving sustainability is to ‘design with nature’ – a term coined by Ian McHarg (in the 1960s) that calls on us to mimic the natural environment. The focus is sustainability with respect to terrestrial and aquatic habitat.”

“As climate change and urban growth and densification processes progress, water risks increase. But we can adapt, or change direction, by improving the built environment and protecting the natural environment. A design with nature is key to climate change adaptation.”

How We Can Adapt

“Michael Blackstock proposes that we re-examine climate change from a ‘water first’ angle because the rhythm of water’s transformations between solid, liquid, and gaseous states on our planet is undergoing a significant change, and at a significant rate.”

“He sees as essential the acknowledgement of water’s central functional and spiritual roles in our world, and urges us to apply both respect and science-based understanding as we develop collaborative climate change mitigation strategies and instill this respect and understanding in younger generations.”

“Times have changed, concludes Michael Blackstock. He writes that no longer is our goal ‘sustainable development’—to plan for a high standard of living for our children. He says that our goal must now be ‘sustainable survival’—to plan and behave in a cross-culturally collaborative manner that ensures children, generations from now, can survive with dignity in a world where respect for water and our climate is ubiquitous.”

To Learn More:

Download a copy of the article by Michael Blackstock titled Blue ecology and climate change.

Download a copy of the PowerPoint presentation by Kim Stephens titled Our Climate is Changing…..Now What? — “Dealing with Uncertainty and Managing Risk: How we can adapt.“

Download an extract from the workshop report that elaborates on the PowerPoint slides.

Download Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management in Canada Workshop to read the report on the workshop.

Story behind the story of why Kim Stephens featured a Michael Blackstock quote to kickoff his keynote presentation

“A week or so before the workshop, a colleague named Peter Andzans sent me a link to Michael Blackstock’s article with a note: you really must read this article, Kim. I did and I was inspired. Michael’s perspective resonated with me. Immediately, I knew that I must extract a quote to use as my opening slide. And so I did.”

“The idea of Blue Ecology stuck with with me. Fast forward 6 years from 2008 to 2014 and I was in a meeting with Mike Donnelly of the Regional District of Nanaimo. The RDN was one of the hosts for our Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Collaboration Series. At the time, the RDN was in the early stages of relationship building with local First Nations. I mentioned Michael Blackstock to Mike, but nothing came of it.”

“Two years later, in 2016, we were planning the program for our year-end FLOWnGROW water sustainability workshop which we were holding in Kelowna. The question was, who do we invite to speak to the theme of integrating Indigenous and Western perspectives. Again, I thought of Michael Blackstock.”

“So, I tracked Michael down and was surprised to find that his day job was with BC Hydro as a negotiator. Long story short, we connected and we talked. And we clicked. We literally squeezed Michael on the program. During our conversation, I will always remember saying to Michael that he had peaked in 2008 in terms of international recognition by UNESCO but was unknown in British Columbia.”

“Michael’s Blue Ecology message resonated with our FLOWnGROW audience. The Partnership for Water Sustainability made a strategic decision. We would mainstream Blue Ecology by building a workshop around Michael Blackstock in Metro Vancouver.

“Titled Blue Ecology – interweaving First Nations cultural knowledge and Western science, the workshop was an inspirational event. We had a powerhouse team with national profiles to complement Michael Blackstock. Workshop sponsors included the Real Estate Foundation of BC and the governments of Metro Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada.”