Full program - International Institute for Sustainable Development

Tim Marta
Associate Director, AAFC-Agri-Environmental Policy Bureau
Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture and Water Quality: A Tri-National Collaborative
Initiative
The Tri-National Collaborative Initiative on Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture and Water
Quality originated from an informal agreement between the Deputy Minister for Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada and his counterparts from Mexico and the United States of America to hold
a Tri-National Workshop, in Canada, in October 2003. Three Tri-National Working Groups
were established to collaborate in the areas of Policy Instruments, Program Delivery (focused on
Beneficial Management Practices), and Research and Information relative to environmentally
sustainable agriculture and water quality. The work consists of sharing national information and
conducting tri-national analysis for the three subject areas. The presentation will review the development,
processes, mechanisms and expected results of the Initiative.
Merrell-Ann Phare
Executive Director/Legal Counsel, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources
Indigenous Peoples and Watershed Management: A Discussion of Rights, Interests and
Interesting Approaches
Effective and meaningful governance of watersheds involves numerous jurisdictions and their
decision-makers, including Indigenous peoples and their governing structures. Achieving cooperation
between these jurisdictions is often confounded by the evolving state of recognition of
Indigenous governance rights, the relative lack of environment-related Indigenous governance
institutions and lack of consensus among watershed governance participants as to the long-term
vision for the watershed. This presentation will outline key challenges faced by Indigenous peoples
when participating in watershed governance, including policy voids that hinder their involvement,
and will suggest possibilities for future cooperative effort.
Jim Robinson, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo
Best Practices: Australia
Australia, the driest inhabited continent, has been experiencing more severe droughts than anticipated
based on historical records. Towns and cities all have supply reservoirs that are completely
dry or are at lower levels than ever experienced. The policy and program approaches and responses
to this are varied. Melbourne has been quite proactive in developing a Water Resources Strategy
that effectively provides for significant population growth supported by water use reductions by
existing customers. Other areas are considering supply options that can be developed to meet or
stave off the crisis. A selection of cases and their anticipated resolution will be discussed, along
with suggestions of lessons we might learn.
Darren Swanson
Project Manager, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Prairie Water Strategies: Innovations and Challenges in Strategic and Coordinated Action
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have each articulated a water resources management strategy
to help address challenges within their provincial jurisdiction. Additionally, the inter-provincial
allocation of water is being managed through the Prairie Provinces Water Board, a federalprovincial
partnership. Other individual watershed groups are also playing local and regional
planning and management roles.
Each jurisdiction is currently grappling with the inherent challenges of this process including leadership,
planning, implementation, monitoring, learning and adapting, multi-level coordination
and participation. This synthesis report provides an in depth study of the common challenges and
innovations in these aspects of water management and the findings constitute a pragmatic toolbox.