This report provides an executive summary of the 12th Annual NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Implementation Workshop, which was held virtually on November 16-18, 2021, and presents the key points from panels and presentations, including chatroom and facilitated discussions, survey polls and results by each day.
The 12th Annual NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Implementation Workshop was held virtually on November 16-18, and featured three-half day sessions from the Water Stewardship Strategy Implementation partners, the new Climate Change Advisory Group, and presentations on the proposed Great Slave Lake Research and Monitoring Program.
Under the theme of Collaborating for Water, this workshop allowed for knowledge sharing and recognized the meaningful work of water and climate change partners, highlighting the importance of continuing collaboration to achieve the goals of the current and future Water Stewardship Strategy, 2021-2025 Action Plan and the 2030 NWT Climate Change Strategic Framework (CCSF).
To encourage collaboration on overlapping issues between water and climate change, this year’s workshop brought water and climate change partners together for the first time. The following objectives were met:
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Share recent work and discuss how to work together to implement the new five-year NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan (2021-2025) and to ensure continued progress towards the vision of the Water Stewardship Strategy. Presentations and panel discussions informed partners of updates.
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Introduce the purpose of the new Climate Change Advisory Group and identify how to increase collaboration to address climate change. This session included presentations on the state of climate change in the Northwest Territories and an introduction to adaptation planning. Two break-out group discussions were facilitated and focused on identifying adaptation actions, priorities, and barriers to address water-related climate change risks.
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Raise 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 the Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC). This session included presentations by the Arctic Research Foundation, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and ECC about research and monitoring programs on GSL and sought feedback from partners on advancing local Indigenous collaboration and engagement using survey polls and a facilitated discussion.
Close to 120 people attended each day of the workshop with a total of 156 water partners participating, representing 21 different Indigenous government and Indigenous organizations, nine academic institutions, seven Northwest Territories regulatory agencies, eight non-governmental organizations and 12 federal and territorial government departments. The Water Strategy Indigenous Steering Committee (ISC) also participated in the workshop, representing their respective Indigenous government and Indigenous organization interests.