The Skeena River Water Conservation Project is part of the Regional Adaptation Collaborative that will enable Canadians to be better prepared to adapt to changes in the climate by providing them with adaptation knowledge, tools, networks and other resources. The SRWCP is jointly led by WWF-Canada and Coast Tsimshian Resources with federal funding support through Natural Resources and a matching contribution from the Coca-Cola Foundation. The SRWCP will develop and test an approach for managing water values and resource development, using existing land management objectives and scenarios about possible future conditions. A Cortex Consultants is interacting with technical advisors from WWF-Canada, CTR, government agencies, First Nations, and academia, to obtain specialist knowledge about disturbance processes and their effects on water, biodiversity, and economic values. This forward-thinking approach to resource management is:

• Community-focused – The project brings together people with resource management responsibilities to address emerging issues of water conservation in the context of resource development in the watersheds.

• Integrative – The project will design a framework for implementing the guidance obtained in previous regional and sub-regional planning initiatives.

• Scenario-based –The project will develop several scenarios to explore the impacts of resource development and climate change effects on future environmental services.

• Strategic – Through scenario-building, the impacts of most resource development activities planned in the region will be integrated and projected as much as 150 years into the future. The scenarios could provide a basis for developing operational ground rules in the study area.

More information about this project is illustrated in the link to the SRWCP Poster, which was presented at the Climate Change Adapation and Sustainable Forest Management Conference held at UBC, Feb 14 – 16, 2011.

SRWCP Poster, CCA-SFM Conference, Feb 2011, Author- James Casey, WWF