The water for life decade is a program of the United Nations and deals with lots of water related issues such as scarcity, financing, quality, access, water in cities .... http://un.org/waterforlifedecade/background.html In 2010 the UN also started a Decade for deserts and the fight against desertification. 2011 is the year of forests and March 22 is World Water Day.
These websites are especially for Canadians with information on the fresh water situation in Canada, how they are approached by politicians and how we can change our own behaviour to save water.
http://www.flowcanada.org/
http://www.goblue.org
One or the other corporation has set up a grant program and support network for community initiatives and organisations like Evergreen and Tide. Some aim specifically at water related issues, others help with the protection of our environment in general:
http://www.unilever.ca/sustainability/Environmental_sustainability/Community_partnerships/
http://bluewater.rbc.com/index.php
Then there's the scientific side to the issues:
http://www.wwcrc.ca/
The Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative is a non-profit organization established in association with the University of Lethbridge. The mission of this collaborative is to establish a broad scientific basis for understanding and
responding to climate related impacts in the Canadian West.
http://www.waterinstitute.ca/ The Alberta water institute has to deal with some oil sands related water issues of course: http://www.waterinstitute.ca/accelerating_dewatering_of_oil_fine_tailing.htm
That's a paragrpah that caught my attention on Flow:
"The Federal government has responsibility over various aspects of water including navigable waters and inland fisheries, interjurisdictional waters and federal lands and waters - such as military bases and First Nations reserves. At one time, the Federal government was keen to address fresh water concerns. They created institutions with a specific water focus (i.e., the Inland Waters Directorate and the Canada Centre for Inland Waters); passed legislation (i.e., Canada Water Act, 1970) and signed international agreements (i.e., Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, 1972). Notably, the Government outlined its commitment to water through the Federal Water Policy, tabled in 1987.
Federal interest in water, however, has declined over the last couple of decades. The Inland Waters Directorate, for instance was disbanded in the early 1990s and despite the significant amount of resources dedicated to developing the Federal Water Policy, few if any of the recommendations were ever implemented in a meaningful way."
Big SIGH! Canada, you will have big problems one day if your resources keep being used so recklessly and without consequences. Generally, I would not want to burden the government with regulating every aspect of our life, including all natural resources. But as we know all too well industry does not take care of the resources they use as much as they should and not even the little man in the street does. But if the little man in the street does care he has still limited power. E.g., I can't go and buy a river and dictate that nobody uses the water, or determine how the water should be used and returned to the river. But the government can. I like to believe the government is not stupid enough that they don't realize the urgency of protecting our fresh water. Their ignorance is there for certain reasons. In Alberta the governent now is proud to have set up a committee to investigate the environmental impacts of the tar sands operations but it will take lots of time until first results come up and actions will be taken. I still doubt the indepence of that committee and I think they aren't in any rush because the province depends on the tar sands and does not want to hinder their development. I think this country needs a massive natural catastrophe, like a big wake-up call, to realize things aren't right the way they are.
Federal interest in water, however, has declined over the last couple of decades. The Inland Waters Directorate, for instance was disbanded in the early 1990s and despite the significant amount of resources dedicated to developing the Federal Water Policy, few if any of the recommendations were ever implemented in a meaningful way."
Big SIGH! Canada, you will have big problems one day if your resources keep being used so recklessly and without consequences. Generally, I would not want to burden the government with regulating every aspect of our life, including all natural resources. But as we know all too well industry does not take care of the resources they use as much as they should and not even the little man in the street does. But if the little man in the street does care he has still limited power. E.g., I can't go and buy a river and dictate that nobody uses the water, or determine how the water should be used and returned to the river. But the government can. I like to believe the government is not stupid enough that they don't realize the urgency of protecting our fresh water. Their ignorance is there for certain reasons. In Alberta the governent now is proud to have set up a committee to investigate the environmental impacts of the tar sands operations but it will take lots of time until first results come up and actions will be taken. I still doubt the indepence of that committee and I think they aren't in any rush because the province depends on the tar sands and does not want to hinder their development. I think this country needs a massive natural catastrophe, like a big wake-up call, to realize things aren't right the way they are.
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