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“Wetlands can provide a number of benefits to society, including: flood control, water treatment, and carbon storage. This workshop will explore gaps and opportunities on how we can protect and conserve wetlands and work towards healthier watersheds. Topics were selected to support key municipal and regional staff and lead conservation groups who are working in the Okanagan. In particular, the afternoon session on stormwater management will provide a more detailed look at one aspect of integrating wetlands into watershed planning,” stated Neil Fletcher.

“Formed in 2001, the Pitu’paq Partnership is a unique collaboration of Mi’kmaq and non-MI’kmaq communities in Cape Breton Island, forming ten communities in all, who meet once a month to address issues of mutual environmental concern. Originally brought together to work on sewage discharge issues into the Bras d’Or Lakes, a unique inland sea, the Pitu’paq Partnership has evolved to adopt ten sustainability principles that change how we think about broader environmental issues,” states Laurie Suitor. ““The Pitu’paq Partnership learned early that in order to make good decisions about water, it needed to think like water. Water does not know boundaries of politics or culture.”

The ‘new normal’ in British Columbia is floods and droughts. The summer dry season has extended on both ends and we can no longer count on a predictable snowpack and reliable rain to maintain a healthy water balance in our watersheds. “After a period of relative hydro-climatic stability, changes in the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere have resulted in the acceleration of the global hydrologic cycle with huge implications for every region of the world and every sector of the global economy,” states Bob Sandford. “We can expect deeper, more persistent drought punctuated by flooding. We expect this trend to continue. We also expect the trend toward extremes to continue.”

“The Canadian Water Summit holds breakout sessions early in the afternoon to get people out of their normal chairs and shake things up. We are the only panel that will be talking about watersheds. Because our audience will be national and international in nature, we will be as frank and forthcoming as possible about the challenges and opportunities. To provide the audience with a common understanding, each member of the panel will speak to Water/Land Use interactions in BC, and along the Fraser River in particular. Each will elaborate on the biggest concerns for the future, anticipated positive changes, what civil society can do to ensure a better future, and where we are going from here,” states Anna Warwick Sears.

In May 2005, the City of Surrey hosted a consultation workshop on green infrastructure. This was the first regional event held in Metro Vancouver under the umbrella of Convening for Action in British Columbia. The workshop was designed to engage the Metro Vancouver Regional Engineers Advisory Committee (REAC). “The workshop proved to be a revelation for all those who participated. As we went around the table, the stories came out as to what Metro Vancouver municipalities were doing. A common refrain was: ‘We didn’t know you were doing that!’ The energy in the room just kept building and building. At the end of the day, we literally tore up our work plan. It was clear that practitioners did not need another guidance document that would go on a shelf. Rather, they needed to network and learn from each other,” recalls Ray Fung.

“Ten years ago, when Eric Bonham organized the first ‘Meeting of the Minds’ workshop to talk about water sustainability on Vancouver Island, I was a bit skeptical that it would take more than just a group of ‘minds’ getting together to move water-centric thinking and actions forward,” states John Finnie. “But that first meeting evolved into a significant initiative. In a relatively short period of time, Convening for Action on Vancouver Island successfully engaged governments, the development community, academia, consultants and the public in making the importance of water sustainability a common thread in discussions and decisions around land development, water use and water conservation.”

“Our present global and societal problem is that short-term thinking governs much of what we do. In many organizations, the long-term view has somehow become excluded over many generations. And in society as whole, it seems that only Left Hemisphere logical, rational thinking has been accepted as valid,” states Eva Kras. “The new research by Ian McGilchrist now ‘turns the table’ because it demonstrates the true and indispensable role of the Right Hemisphere for ALL sustainable development work. A key finding is that we need to re-learn basically ‘how we think’, using both hemispheres.”

Howard Neukrug is the champion for implementation of ‘Green City Clean Waters’. “We value water and we’re changing the traditional way stormwater is managed between homes, businesses and the environment. We are taking that (old, grey infrastructure) barrier down, and are stopping the water from ever hitting the system,” stated Howard Neukrug. “And so we’re leading the way, we’re demonstrating, we’re innovating, putting things in place. But then we’re stepping back and letting others take over…. We just need to lead the way and recognize that rainwater is a resource, it’s not a waste product.”

“Our community is deeply committed to watershed management and stewardship. However, often they are missing the specific tools and information to transform that commitment to concrete actions they can take in their own lives. This often means simple changes to how they develop or care for their properties,” stated Kate Miller. “The purpose of the rainwater brochure is to inform and educate property owners as to how their properties can act like a watershed – that is, managing rainwater properly by first capturing runoff and then slowly releasing it back into the ground and to streams.”

“Australia is a nation of extremes – a land of droughts and flooding rains. Canada enjoys boundless beauty and water. The easy going ‘she’ll be right mate’ culture of Australians masks strong aversion to change ‘we’ve always done it this way’. Our water management is, mostly, a centralised top down (driven by institutions) process. Management of water supply is separated from community as statutory monopolies governed by bureaucracy. In contrast, Canadians have a bottom up (driven by people) discussion ‘let’s talk about this’ about ideas – consensus via non-government organisations and community governance,” wrote Peter Coombes.