1. Thinking Like a Watershed - Ecological governance concepts, trends and applications
A presentation by
Oliver M. Brandes, Associate Director
POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
University of Victoria

2. The challenge ahead
In a healthy society, economy always follows ecology, and education precedes them both
Ken Carey
Starseed
The Third Millennium, Living in the Posthistoric World
Harper, San Francisco,1991

3. Presentation overview
Ecological governance
Key water governance trends
Thinking like a watershed and some thoughts on the path forward

4. Ecological governance
What it is NOT!
One size fits all
instead it must evolve in place
Neat and tidy models
instead it is messy and complex
Applicable to individual sectors or industries
instead it is about whole system change
eg must address markets, education, law and policy, governments, planning and management, and whole cities and communities)

5. Ecological governance
Embeds environment in all levels of decision making
Environment not an ‘add on’ but central
Asks how we might foster circular systems – reducing demand on distant and local ecosystems
With the fundamental question:
What does governance shaped by the principles of ecological sustainability look like?

6. Ecological governance - Foundations
Economy is a subset of the ecosystem
Biophysical limits (including water) exist
Emphasize circular systems
no such thing as waste - simply an input for other processes
Take uncertainty and complexity seriously by managing adaptively
Cultivate feedback loops through decentralized power and institutions
Develop social resilience and ensure ecological resilience
Reconnect humans (and communities) to the natural world

7. Key water governance trends
Climate change represents a
CLEAR AND PRESENT LONG TERM DANGER (and opportunity)
More than just the issue of the day, week, month?
Carbon reduction is all about Mitigation
Water (and watersheds) is where we will feel the impacts
Water is all about Adaptation
changing climate will directly impact watershed and ecological function and therefore influences community prosperity

8. Key water governance trends
Government to Governance
Governance is more than just government -- includes other critical actors such as associations, universities, civil society and business
drivers of innovation and change
Governance, alone, cannot correct poor management
yet poor governance often leads to ineffective management and unsustainable—social, economic and ecological—outcomes
We must recognize that water has a distinct public good nature & thus government inevitably plays a role
Emphasizes a “new” role for government—from top-down mangers to facilitators of local action

9. Key water governance trends
Watersheds, catchments and basins
Water and watersheds are the integrators of the landscape and the source of key ecological goods and services
drinking water, flood control, biodiversity and food and resource production
Watersheds have long been recognized as the appropriate scale for management (Dublin Principles) and are increasingly recognized as the key “scale” for governance
… YET … no current governance model integrates management of the terrestrial resources with water-based management or atmospheric carbon as a coherent ecological system.
Water, not oil, will be the strategic resource for the 21st Century -- watersheds is where water lives!!
Finding the appropriate governance arrangement that enables a holistic and integrated approach is the challenge.

10. Key water governance trends
New conception of infrastructure
Build with nature and managing human activity is increasingly recognized as the cheaper, faster and more effective way to create long-term benefits and deal with persistent problems
Eg #1 Built supply infrastructure - dams, pumps and reservoirs to demand management and conservation programming to balance water budgets
Eg #2 Source protection for drinking water instead of expensive (energy and capital) treatment technologies

11. Foundation of Research
At a Watershed:
Ecological Governance and Sustainable Water Management in Canada (May 2005)

12. Primary conclusions
Watershed Sustainability is a social—NOT a technical—challenge
Maintaining ecosystem health and function as the priority
Water conservation and changing behaviour must be the foundation to water management
Innovation, adaptive management and whole system thinking is critical
Local solutions must be allowed to develop in place -- requiring senior government to move from top down managers to facilitators of local action
Watersheds must be managed and governed as whole units with attention to linkages across sectors
REQUIRES…attention to governance

13. Where do we go from here? Some suggestions on the path forward to
developing water sustainability in Canada

14. Guiding principles for reform
A Conservation Ethic
create H2O IQ and dispel the “myth of abundance”
leave more water in the system to enhance ecological resilience
A Citizen-Centered Vision
maintain community prosperity by linking the economy and ecology through water
entrench water as a ‘public trust’ legally and institutionally
Thinking Like a Watershed
complexity and uncertainty requires adaptive integrated thinking
Healthy functioning watersheds must be the foundation of our resource decision-making
We must move towards a more rational approach to water and watershed governance in Canada
I believe the only meaningful way forward is to start with key principles that should guide action (and reform) at all levels

15. Basic Roles and Responsibilities
Federal Government
Engage (and enforce) on Constitutional responsibilities -- fisheries, navigation,First Nations, infrastructure, national issues,international engagement, trade and export
Good Science and data -- climate change, hydro-ecology, adaptation, water use
Support institutions and processes that “think like a watershed” through resources and best practices and information exchange
Provinces
Manage adaptively -- Ecosystem based allocations and integrated land-water use in the face of a changing climate
Source Protection and Conservation -- as priority water “infrastructure”
Address cumulative impacts -- by enabling “good governance” at the watershed scale and whole system thinking
As noted previously government will have an important and multifaceted role to play -
In the limited time available I cannot review all the roles and responsibilities for key players - but I will identify the primary areas of engagement required by senior government for us to move forward