Abstract
Governance has emerged as a central issue in addressing contemporary and future water challenges. Many shortcomings of past approaches to water policy in Canada are revealed in this volume as they relate to conservation (Changing Currents: A Case Study in the Evolution of Water Law in Western Canada and Patchy resources for the governance of Canada’s resource patches: How hydraulic fracturing is illuminating the need to improve water governance in Canada) and health (Public Health at the Watershed Scale). A fundamental shift in the prevailing mindset of government control of the hydrological cycle for human use is necessary. Resilience offers a radical departure from dominant approaches of the past and conceptual developments inform the future of water governance in an era of complexity and change. Incorporating resilience thinking into the governance of drainage basins is critical in this context. Four cases from Canada are presented to illustrate how resilience is emerging in policy and practice. Taken together, resilience thinking and resilience practice, provide a fertile ground for re-envisioning water resources and their governance.
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Notes
- 1.
For more information on the Strategy, partners involved, and past and current activities, please visit: nwtwaterstewardship.ca.
- 2.
Note: This is a not an exhaustive list of attributes in the Strategy that promote resilience , but are rather selected examples.
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Plummer, R., Baird, J., Krievins, K., Fresque-Baxter, J., Imhof, J., Mitchell, S.J. (2017). Shifting Perspectives in an Era of Complexity and Change: Incorporating Resilience into the Water Governance of Canadian Drainage Basins. In: Renzetti, S., Dupont, D. (eds) Water Policy and Governance in Canada. Global Issues in Water Policy, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42806-2_22
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