Mon, Feb 27: Emerging Scarcity in a Land of Plenty: Water and Water Policy in Canada

The Canada Institute and the Environmental Change and Security Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars present

Emerging Scarcity in a Land of Plenty: Water and Water Policy in Canada

with

Lars Hallstrom

Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of Alberta

Director, Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities

 

and discussant: 

Betsy Otto

Aqueduct Director, World Resources Institute

Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, American Rivers

Monday, February 27, 2012

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

5th floor conference room

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington, DC 20004 USA

RSVP to Canada@wilsoncenter.org or (202) 691-4301

Canada is a state blessed with the world’s largest supplies of fresh water. While other natural resources (oil, grain, timber) figure largely in Canada’s economic and international profile, water is rapidly becoming recognized as a core of these other resource-based industries, and a resource that is increasingly challenged both in terms of supply and quality.

This is particularly true in the western province of Alberta, a province where the combination of climate, geography, hydrology, regulatory politics, economic development, and corresponding population growth make the concept of “peak water” more than just a rhetorical tool. Alberta is already a land with a history of significant drought and variation of supply with important challenges ahead. Dr. Hallstrom will discuss how the factors noted above are increasingly converging upon water as a critical challenge in the province, and the importance of water as a core element of sustainable development. 

Please allow extra time to enter the building. A photo ID is required for entry. Directions at www.WilsonCenter.org/directions.