Grant: Planning Grants

The purpose of the planning meeting is to assemble leaders in research and policy, whose work spans public health, ecosystems and equity concerns in the context of water governance. Specifically, the meeting will determine strategies for a pan-Canadian research portfolio at the interface between public health, ecosystem sustainability and integrated water governance. The meeting builds on a series of research and policy initiatives highlighting the KT gap between our knowledge of water resources as a foundation for social and environmental determinants of health, and the limited institutional and intersectoral options for addressing health, ecosystems and equity in relation to water resources. For the purposes of this first meeting, policy partners will focus on the local and regional scale of Northern BC, building on partnerships with health, environment and watershed organizations, and links to provincial and national networks. Despite recognition of the links between health and ecosystems, the public health community has played a relatively marginal role in the governance and management of land and water resources in general, and watershed governance, in particular. This is especially concerning given that health effects from changes in ecosystems and climate tend to be distributed unequally, exacerbating health inequalities for groups already vulnerable or disadvantaged, especially in rural, remote and resource dependant communities. The meeting will examine these key issues. The KT gap will be addressed by mapping pathways between watershed governance and public health policy, as well as the design and evaluation of dynamic, intersectoral and adaptive watershed management practices that protect human health and wellbeing directly (through waterborne diseases, floods and drought), and indirectly (through social capital, recreational, biodiversity, cultural and community-building benefits).