The Water Stewardship theme’s strategic plan is continuing to be developed with widespread and diverse participation across UBC campus and the province as a whole. Keep reading to find out more about the process, outcomes, and next steps of the theme development.
We are planning to officially launch this theme in the next few months, so be sure to keep an eye out for an announcement.
Update about the process:
- The BRIMM water stewardship theme is currently undergoing a strategic planning process
- A 2-hour launch workshop was held on Friday 4th December, 2020 in collaboration with the UBC Future Waters cluster https://water.ubc.ca/ . The event was attended by 41 participants, including representatives from academia, industry, First Nations rights-holders, government, and NGOs. The workshop had three primary goals:
- Cultivate relationships across academia and practice, with a view of working towards mutual partnerships, and building trust and reliance;
- Develop an understanding of the needs of industry, government and First Nations rights-holders with respect to managing mine water issues, and explain complementary capabilities offered by UBC;
- Identify priority themes for future research programs through BRIMM and the Future Water Cluster, with clarity on potential partners from outside academe, as well as individuals from UBC with expertise and interest in driving forward these research programs.
- Since the workshop, the BRIMM team has held follow-up calls with over 15 workshop representatives to gather reflections and further refine potential research themes. A UBC faculty workshop was also held, which was attended by 11 UBC faculty.
- These engagement activities have helped to refine research themes.
Outcomes and next steps:
- Over the next 6 weeks, the team will be holding four focused workshops on four research themes which have been prioritized for further dialogue:
- Monetization of mining risks on water and the environment
- Data science for mine water management and monitoring
- Water reuse/recycling in pursuit of zero discharge mines
- Respectful engagement with Indigenous rights-holders
- These activities will contribute to the development of a strategy document for guiding future work, with anticipated release at the end of March/early April.
- If you are interested in participating in future workshops or learning more about the development of the BRIMM Water Stewardship theme, please contact nadja.kunz@ubc.ca