Why?

Water resource management issues and activities in Atlantic Canada are currently receiving considerable attention in the press as well as undergoing comprehensive review. In Nova Scotia, for example, from a top-down perspective, an integrative water resource management strategy is being developed by the Government, and from a bottom-up perspective, the Environment Network has recently formed a “Watershed Caucus” comprised of NGOs and individuals, some of whom had attended an earlier watershed awareness meeting.

Academics from around the region are also becoming increasingly involved in these subjects as witness to the creation, for example, of the Canadian Rivers Institute at UNB, the Coastal Wetlands Institute at Mount Allison, the Environmental Monitoring Network at St. Mary’s, the Coastal Zones Research Institute at Moncton, the Aquatic Centre for Education and Research at Memorial Unversity, the Interdisciplinary Studies in Aquatic Resources Program at St. Francis Xavier, the Aquatic Centre of Research and Education at Memorial, and the Estuarine Research Centre at Acadia, as well as the first specifically titled professorship in watershed management at NSAC.

Significantly, however, this WATER symposium and workshop are the only recurring event within Atlantic Canada designed to regularly bring together academic, governmental, industry, and NGO participants for exposure to new developments in the field and for discussing and exchanging ideas and concerns related to watershed management in the region.