Later this January, the Cowichan Watershed will host a forum for water practitioners, watershed groups, First Nations and other decision-makers.
RDN staff will be attending to learn from a multitude of speakers and session-leaders with on-the-ground watershed expertise, to help us move forward with our integrated watershed management planning.
Some of the forum topics include:
Making the Grade: Watershed Report Cards & Indicators
This session will focus the influence and effectiveness of watershed report cards on watershed management, and look at how report card recommendations can be turned into on-the-ground action.
Connecting Water Science & Decision-Making
How can we identify the right science and information to inform policy and management? When is participation by individual citizens, stewardship groups, or government partnerships effective? Using Living Lake Canada’s experience in monitoring, mapping, and inventory for water and watershed needs, this workshop will focus on understanding the best principles to inform decision-making at all levels.
Learning Together to Address the Health & Well-Being Dynamics of Watershed Governance
This workshop will provide an opportunity to learn about successful partnered initiatives—involving researchers, practitioners, watershed stewards, and decision-makers—that focus on watersheds as the setting for enhancing social and environmental determinants of health. We will also learn about tools, such as rich-picture mapping, digital storytelling, and spatially referenced archives, to inform how “unusual allies” can work together.
Legal Tools for Watershed Protection
This workshop will explore the different ways that local governments and communities can work towards watershed protection, with a focus on drinking water protection, water use planning, community planning, and infrastructure adaptation.
How Can We Plan for the Future in a Climate-Changed World?
This workshop will focus on planning for future impacts on water systems, including hydrologic models, economic analysis and trade-offs for watershed outputs, key audiences, and policy recommendations and topic areas.
Check out the event website at : http://watersheds2014.ca/
