ARCTIC OBITER

6 | ARCTIC OBITER
COMMUNITY NEWS
Preserving Water: NWT Strategy Praised Internationally
As part of their continued eventual water crisis, the NWT holds
development of a Water Resources the advantage of a bountiful freshwater
M a n a g e m e n t S t r a t e g y , t h e
supply. By heeding omens
Department of Environment and from ongoing water issues in
Natural Resources (ENR), in neighboring regions, and keeping a
collaboration with Indian and watch on developments upstream, the
Northern Affairs Canada (INAC),
recently invited various experts from
NWT is taking steps to secure our
fresh-water resource for the future.
the Rosenberg International Forum on
The common question was raised
Water Policy to examine the current
numerous times by the audience,
water.
asking what can currently and
On June 11, the community was realistically be done to prevent the
invited to Northern United
Place for a discussion with the
panel of experts. David
Livingstone, Director of
Renewable Resources &
Environment at INAC,
introduced the panel and
briefly discussed the paper
under review, titled ‚Northern
Voices, Northern Waters.‛
there are ample laws
within the treaties
and acts in Canada
to protect
the waters
University of California, stated the
ideas and principles surrounding
water protection are easy to
understand. She claims, however,
that politicians and those in power
continually have ‚byzantine talks‛
regarding water protection and
obfuscate discussions with the public,
making it hard to navigate through
otherwise straight-forward ideas.
When talking about those involved in
the tar sands, the frustrated Ingram
indentified that the economists are
bad, but ‚even worse are the
lawyers.‛
The panel laid the majority of
the water threat on the
perception of value. Water,
although essential for human
life, is ‚not as valuable as dead
politicians on green pieces of
paper,‛ said Vaux.
Robert Sandford, Chair of the
Canadian Partnership Initiative on the
United Nations ‚Water for Life‛
Decade, moderated the discussions
and provided insight into what the
Northwest Territories has achieved
with its water strategy. ‚You guys are
well ahead of the game,‛ said
Sandford in reference to the defensive
measures outlined in the paper.
Echoed by all panelists was the notion
that the NWT’s initiative to prepare,
preserve and protect our current
supply is a model that can be used
internationally. While most regions in
the world are in the midst of an
abuse of our water supply. ‚There are
ample laws within the treaties and
acts in Canada to protect the waters,‛
said Prof. Henry Vaux, Jr., from the
University of California. Affirming
this point was Prof. David Schindler
from the University of Alberta, who
added that these ‚laws have been
around for 25 years. It’s up to the
politicians to enforce them.‛
Schindler then stressed that it is up to
the voting public to press the issue on
their representatives.
The Alberta tar sands and their threat
on northern waters became a hot
subject. Prof. Helen Ingram,
One possible solution is to add
value to assets that currently do not
have value. Prof. Kevin Boyle, Head
of Agricultural and Applied
Economics at Virginia Tech, made the
suggestion that it may be necessary to
place a currency on fresh water
supplies.
The panel was to meet the following
day to conclude and present their
recommendations in a response report
to ‚Northern Voices, Northern
Water.‛
Northern Voices, Northern Waters can
be found on the GNWT ENR website:
http://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/