Sustainable Water Use by Canada’s Natural Resource Sectors – Research
The NRT believes that the opportunity is now to put Canada on a policy path to ensure sustainability of our water and natural resource sectors. Governance at a national level is not currently positioned to respond to expected increasing pressure on our water resources.
In November 2008, the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) initiated a research program on Water Sustainability and the Future of Canada’s Natural Resource Sectors (agriculture, forest, mining, and energy) to identify what is known about the main uses of water by the natural resource sectors. The program has two high level objectives:
- To raise the profile of the importance of water management in this country and some of the key water issues relative to Canada’s natural resources sectors; and
- To provide recommendations to governments, industry and water management authorities on policies, approaches and mechanisms through which water can be better managed to foster both ecosystem health and the natural resource sectors’ economic sustainability.
The program is divided into two phases. Phase I (2009–2010) set out to identify key issues related to the sectors’ water uses, as well as the barriers, drivers, risks, and opportunities associated with the sustainability of Canada’s freshwater as they relate to the natural resource sectors. Phase II (2010–2011) focuses on exploring options and proposing solutions to some of the key issues identified in this Phase I report.
Phase II (2010-2011)
Of the four national issues identified in our research, the NRT has decided to further explore the key challenges surrounding governance and water management. Governance at a national level is not currently positioned to respond to expected increasing pressure on our water resources. This is largely due to jurisdictional complexity, inconsistent approaches across the country, policy fragmentation, a lack of resources, and insufficient technical, scientific, and policy capacity. By addressing these specific challenges, governments will be able to establish more effective governance structures that will enable industry to develop solutions at the regional scales where they operate.
In order to provide advice that will assist in the development of a national water framework, the following key issues related to governance and water management will be explored: water allocation schemes, integrated collaborative governance approaches, collection and management of water use data, and policy instruments. In Phase II of the NRT’s water program, we will undertake to:
- Evaluate current water allocation approaches across the country to determine if they remain effective and appropriate means of managing water, and identify opportunities for improvement to water allocation going forward.
- Explore collaborative governance approaches for integrated water management.
- Investigate strategic approaches to the collection and management of water-use data.
- Evaluate a full suite of policy instruments for water management in Canada, from traditional regulatory and voluntary conservation efforts to pricing and market-based instruments.
© 2013