Good Governance Ideas in Need of Recalibration
Mr. Pentland discusses the need to rethink three influential concepts that affect
water management: sustainable development, “smart regulation” and theories about managing in an information age.
The implications of these concepts suggest that the world and Canada’s place in it are very different than they were when the 1987 Federal Water Policy was written. We need comprehensive water policy reform that recognizes that water and other natural resources are central to our very existence; policy that strengthens and integrates top-down knowledge and policies with bottom-up decisions and action; and that contributes to broader public policy reforms beyond the water sector. In the meantime, local water managers should focus on maximizing the resilience of local ecosystems.
