This primer is a first step in establishing resources that practitioners can turn to when applying resilience thinking to watershed governance.
The primer introduces key ideas associated with resilience and how they may be applied by those engaging in various facets of governance in Canada. It is the product of collaboration involving Canadian and international researchers as well as Canadian watershed practitioners.
In developing the primer, the authors surveyed experts from around the world and asked them what factors they considered important for resilience in systems where water is a central focus.
The result of this process is the identification and discussion of six main attributes of resilience to be applied in a watershed governance context:
Each attribute is described in the chapters of this primer with details as to how the attribute builds resilience. Additional content is provided including:
The attributes described in this primer focus on watersheds in terms of their governance and are intended to apply to a system as a whole, enhancing its capacity to absorb disturbances of all kinds including unknown and unforeseen ones. They are attributes of a system that can deal with management/policy mistakes, can absorb large shocks, and allow all parts of the system to keep functioning as they have in the past or to adapt.
Design and development by Soapbox.