Grant: Canada First Research Excellence Fund

Given that half the world’s population and all of Canada are dependent upon water from cold regions—which are at the forefront of global warming and undergoing rapid change—Canada must take a global leadership role in finding solutions for how best to forecast, prepare for and manage water futures in the face of dramatically increasing risks. Through an unprecedented multi-site water research partnership involving the UofS, its three institutional partners, 14 other Canadian universities and nearly 160 stakeholders/partners, Global Water Futures (GWF) will be the world’s first large-scale multi-site water research consortium, bringing together an unprecedented scale of expertise to enable Canada to lead the world in developing risk management solutions for global economies and communities dependent upon water for health, wealth and livelihoods. Building on world-renowned excellence in water research and unique observational sites, GWF is uniquely positioned to develop new climate change-focussed science for evidence-based decision-making, innovative water monitoring technologies, new decision-making tools, and much-needed predictive models for national forecasting of floods, droughts and related agricultural risks. GWF will transform Canada’s ability to reduce the risk of water threats, design adaptive strategies to cope with uncertainty, and take advantage of economic opportunities—knowledge crucial to many other parts of the world. GWF will be well positioned with its transformative new community-centric science and more than 380 researchers across Canada to help develop a national water strategy for Canada that addresses issues ranging from health and safety to sustainable development of industries to protection of critical water resources.