Based on CIER’s First Nations Integrated Watershed Planning Guidebooks, various Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders participated in this first phase, which involved a two day workshop to initiate Indigenous-led watershed planning.
The various workshop activities included locating your First Nations in the watershed planning process; creating a vision for the water; brainstorming stakeholders; identifying community concerns and priorities; identifying next steps and establishing a timeline of activities for the development of a watershed plan. These activities provided the opportunity for the participants to experience different parts of the planning process and to build their capacity to go through the same activities with other people within the watershed.
The workshop was a success in that it:
- Brought both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants together to discuss a strategy for developing an Indigenous-led watershed plan;
- Reaffirmed the level of commitment from participants to the process;
- Strengthened local capacity for watershed planning processes;
- Built non-Indigenous participants awareness of Indigenous planning processes and other areas of importance such as culture and treaty rights;
- Identified key concerns and priorities for the watershed;
- Strengthened local relationships; and,
- Identified a potential process of how to move forward.
In moving forward, CIER, the Maliseet Nation Conservation Council and the World Wildlife Fund will continue to work together on tackling the tasks the participants identified for developing an Indigenous-led watershed plan.
This project was generously supported by the Echo Foundation, the Maliseet Nation Conservation Council, the World Wildlife Fund and the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust. For further information about this project or CIER’s First Nations Integrated Watershed Planning Guidebooks please contact Kate Cave at email@example.com.