Toward an Integrated Management Framework for the Northern NCRB

© 2014 The International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD.org 30

3.0 Toward an Integrated Management Framework for the Northern NCRB

3.1 Toward an Integrated Management Framework for the Northern NCRB

Section 2 summarizes the state of the northern NCRB, focusing on describing the watershed ecosystem, highlighting some elements of ecological, economic and social importance, and inally summarizing some of these as ecosystem services that we beneit from—both regionally and globally. These help articulate the goals and aspects of integrated management eforts on the northern NCRB. In providing this summary, we make the case for managing this watershed ecosystem in its entirety to ensure that its interlinked aquatic and terrestrial systems continue to be healthy and provide the beneits that are the foundation for communities and economies in Manitoba. Our irst attempt is in northern Manitoba, to develop something that can be adapted for the entire basin. In this section, we discuss how to manage the ecosystem and who could be involved in these management eforts. A review of the literature focuses on key principles of ecosystem management with an emphasis on watershed ecosystems. Researchers, policy-makers and managers have grappled with the complexities of ecosystem management and its issues for decades, having published hundreds of reports highlighting challenges and solutions around successful ecosystem management Grumbine, 1994. With growing understanding of the links between ecosystem services and human well-being, there are examples of basins around the world where management is deliberately prioritizing certain beneits, while staying conscious of trade-ofs that might occur as a result. These eforts gained momentum somewhat after the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment MA, 2005 popularized these links further, and various management approaches have been developed to pursue this new paradigm. Some create frameworks and dialogues to manage competing land and water uses for interests within a watershed e.g., industry, resource extraction, agriculture, energy production, urban areas, ecosystem needs, etc.. Ecosystem management in the northern NCRB will require a clear understanding of current management systems being applied to speciic aspects within the region. Section 3.2 presents principles for efective ecosystem governance based on lessons in literature from comparable eforts. These principles are then applied in the northern Manitoba portion of the NCRB in Sections 5.1 to 5.7 to provide the foundation for irst steps in developing a speciic framework with inputs from other interests.

3.2 Principles for Watershed Management Success