Basin Planning: An overarching principle found in all documents reviewed is that a good Leadership: While the speciic nature of basin leadership varies e.g., government; consortium; Multi-party or multi-scale approaches: Incorporating diferent perspective

© 2014 The International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD.org iv Cultural services include a wide range of recreational and aesthetic services, as well as various services used by Indigenous communities in the north such as medicines and spiritual beneits. To illustrate the magnitude, the northern region of the province contributed CAD 116 million to the economy from tourism in 2016—8 per cent of tourism spending in the province Travel Manitoba, 2016. Supporting services in the study region include habitat for ish, waterfowl and wildlife, and biodiversity in general. This region supports recreational and commercial isheries including walleye, northern pike, lake whiteish and others. Ecosystem Management of the Northern NCRB The notion of large area planning for optimizing beneits is not new to Manitoba or Canada. In 1997, the premier of Manitoba launched a multi-party consultation, the Consultation on Sustainable Development Implementation COSDI, to “consider and make recommendations to government on how Manitoba can best implement sustainable development principles and guidelines into decision-making, including environmental management, licensing, land use planning and regulatory processes.” The resulting report asserted that “large area level” planning was needed in Manitoba, and strongly recommended that these areas “maximize the use of natural boundaries such as watersheds for deining the large planning areas” Government of Manitoba, 1999. Most recently, the Clean Environment Commission 2015 conducted hearings on the regulation of water in Lake Winnipeg, a major reservoir and sub-basin in the NCRB, and stated: The commission considers that all activities afecting the Lake Winnipeg-Nelson River watershed should be assessed in light of all impacts, taking into account the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental sustainability. p. 19 In the broader Canadian context, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board decentralizes water management through the existence of regional regulatory boards that emphasize co-management and are empowered to issue and manage land-use permits and water licenses. We looked at ways to manage the northern NCRB for maintaining long-term sustainability and ensuring that current priorities are met. A literature review identiied seven principles of ecosystem management and considered how these apply in the northern NCRB. Speciic case studies of how these principles were used in the management of the Fraser Basin in Canada, Mekong Basin in Asia, and the Plan Nord Initiative in Canada provided practical guidance on implementation. These principles and their application in the northern NCRB include:

1. Basin Planning: An overarching principle found in all documents reviewed is that a good

blueprint is essential for efective basin management e.g., Blomquist, Dinar, Kemper, 2005; Government of Alberta, 2015; Roy, Barr, Venema, 2011. While there are currently eforts in sub-basins of the NCRB, including the Red River Basin, Assiniboine River Basin, etc., no basin- wide initiative exists for the northern NCRB. Eforts from these sub-basin initiatives would need to be assessed, compiled and scaled-up for strategic management of the NCRB.

2. Leadership: While the speciic nature of basin leadership varies e.g., government; consortium;

non-proit; multi-lateral organization, etc., the documents reviewed Blomquist, Dinar, Kemper, 2005; Brandes O’Riordan, 2014; Roy, Barr, Venema, 2011; Schmeier, 2012; Sheelanere, Noble, Patrick, 2014 revealed some common characteristics found in many © 2014 The International Institute for Sustainable Development IISD.org v leadership entities, including the ability and widely accepted mandate to provide strategic direction, convene interests, coordinate planning, make decisions, obtain or provide necessary resources, etc. Although there is no one obvious regional lead for the northern NCRB, the region does have active planning initiatives that can act as building blocks, including the recently announced task force to lead the Northern Economic Development Strategy Government of Manitoba, 2016, resource management boards, the Boreal Songbird Initiative, the Boreal Woodland Caribou Recovery Strategy, etc. Recent developments such as the closure of the Port of Churchill, reductions in rail service, uncertainty in the forest industry and impacts on regional economies could be considered systematically in a large-area planning efort.

3. Multi-party or multi-scale approaches: Incorporating diferent perspectives from a range

of levels helps ensure broad support while maintaining on-the-ground knowledge informing basin initiatives. The examples of existing multi-party initiatives in the region, such as the former Thompson Economic Development Working Group, incorporate some of these options. Some of these approaches could contribute to initial discussions andor evolve into watershed-focused engagement.

4. Shared decision making with Indigenous communities: Due to its presence in northern