Prairie Citizens' Water Directive
Submitted by Lindsay Telfer, Sierra Club Prairie Chapter
From the Rocky Mountains to Lake Winnipeg an expansive river network connects the Prairie Provinces. Increasingly, there are competing demands being placed on limited water resources across the region.
This fall, with support from the Gordon Foundation, citizens from across the region will join together in a collective call for action as the Prairie Water Coalition embarks in a regional dialogue that will connect the people of a region with a united message. Throughout the fall of 2007 the emerging Prairie Water Coalition will be hosting a series of 10 public forums across the prairie's to create a clear, powerful platform from which to advocate for change, participate in decision-making, and hold governments accountable for the decisions they take regarding our precious water.
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The forums will feature a proposal for a citizen's directive on water management. Participants in each of the forums will have the opportunity to discuss in depth the expectations, and will also consider strategies and actions to help bring about the necessary changes. For real change to happen-to public policy, planning processes, and in day-to-day management-there must be a shared vision, |
and our expectations must be shared expectations. To ensure this happens, we are calling on groups and individuals from across the Prairie Provinces to help build on and strengthen a draft Statement, and to join together in calling for government leadership and action on sustainable water management.
The emerging Prairie Water Coalition brings together the diverse experience
of environmentalists and water policy researchers from across the Prairie
Provinces and beyond. This draft "Prairie Citizens Water Directive"
emerges from a series of conversations that started when we came together
to share our stories of water advocacy across the region and explore
what we could do 'better' together. The document is informed by the
advice and input of numerous environmental and water policy experts and remains
open to further contribution as we work to develop a collective
vision and expectations for sustainable water management in the
Prairie Provinces .
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For more information, and to see a list of meeting dates view:
www.sierraclub.ca/prairie/water_forum.htm
This will build on the Foundation's current support for the work
of various organizations across the Prairies on their respective
provincial water policies:
The Bow Riverkeeper is working to support effective watershed management in the context of the Water for Life Strategy in Alberta (see www.bowriverkeeper.org).
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society's Water Issues Committee has been working on a "Statement of Expectations on Water Protection and Governance" and will build its capacity to engage in the watershed-based planning processes developing in that province (read more here).
The Manitoba Eco-Network will continue to work through its Water Caucus to inform the ongoing development of regulatory priorities under the Water Protection Act and to respond to various proposed projects in the region (read more here).
The POLIS Project on Ecological Governance is working to implement demand management and soft path planning across Canada (read more here).