12th Annual NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Implementation Workshop

The department of Environment and Climate Change’ Water Monitoring and Stewardship Division, in partnership with the Environmental Stewardship and Climate Change Division, hosted the 12th annual Water Stewardship Strategy (WSS) Implementation Workshop on November 16-18, 2021. More than 150 water partners joined the workshop, representing 21 different Indigenous governments, 9 academic institutions, 7 NWT regulatory agencies, 8 non-governmental organizations and 12 federal and territorial government departments.

Participants gathered under the theme of Collaborating for Water, and focused on knowledge sharing to facilitate collaboration.  This theme recognizes the meaningful work of water and climate change partners and highlights the importance of continuing collaboration to achieve the goals of the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy and its 2021-25 Action Plan and the 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework and its current and future Action Plans.

This year’s workshop featured the new Water Stewardship Strategy 2021-2025 Action Plan, hosted the first Climate Change Advisory Group session (the CCAG is a mechanism for a diverse range of climate change partners to collaborate on addressing climate change) and presented the proposed Great Slave Lake Research and Monitoring Program.

The workshop was an opportunity to:

  • Share recent work and discuss how water partners can work together to implement the new five-year NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan (2021-2025), and ensure continued progress towards the vision of the Water Strategy.
  • Initiate the first CCAG gathering and to identify priority climate adaptation actions and needs to address water-related climate change risks.  Participants’ contributions will inform the priorities of the Climate Change Council, and the Government of Northwest Territories climate change work, including ensuring that Northern priorities are addressed in the National Adaptation Strategy.
  • Build awareness of existing and proposed research and monitoring programs on Great Slave Lake (GSL), including the development of a coordinated GSL Research and Monitoring Program proposed by ECC. This session featured presentations by Arctic Research Foundation, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and ECC about research and monitoring programs on GSL and sought feedback from water partners on advancing local Indigenous collaboration and engagement. 

A workshop summary report can be read by water and climate change partners here: 2021 Workshop Summary Report.

For more information about climate change or water monitoring and stewardship in the NWT, please visit www.ecc.gov.nt.ca or www.nwtwaterstewardship.ca.