Capacity for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management in the South Saskatchewan Watershed, Canada

Abstract

Canada’s watersheds are under increasing pressure from the cumulative effects of human development. There is a recognized need to assess and manage cumulative effects to Canada’s watersheds, but there has been limited assessment of the current capacity for cumulative effects assessment and management. This paper assesses the current capacity to implement and sustain watershed-based cumulative effects assessment and management in the South Saskatchewan Watershed. Eight core requisites and 40 capacity indicators for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management are assessed based on a survey of 73 watershed stakeholders. Results indicate that many of the perceived threats to the health of the South Saskatchewan Watershed are not subject to regulatory environmental assessment. Participants identified leadership and multi-stakeholder collaboration as the most important requisites for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management, but under-valued the importance of vertical and horizontal linkages to ensure that watershed plans and monitoring programs provide sufficient guidance to land uses and project development decisions. Participants believed current capacity to be lacking, or limited, across most assessment indicators, with data management and coordination and resources to ensure the long-term sustainability of watershed cumulative effects assessment and management as the most significant capacity constraints. Advancing watershed cumulative effects assessment and management in the South Saskatchewan Watershed requires a lead agency or consortium of agencies with a clear mandate for cumulative effects assessment, the legislated or regulatory means to ensure that watershed efforts influence land and water use and allocation decisions, the coordination of data and provision of specific guidance to monitoring programs, and long-term financial investment.