An Introduction

Or perhaps more accurately, a beginning.

There was a comment on CBC this morning regarding the increasing dominance of social media as a source of information. Referring back to Marshall McLuhan, the announcer observed that if the medium is the message, then in the age of social media the message is us. Very interesting and central to the purpose of this blog.

This is a community space where we comment and also publish material, and it will evolve with the discussion, expanding and reaching out to related dialogues.

Broadly speaking the content will be in the domain of water management, governance and sustainable development. We will seek to identify and understand the linkages between them, and interconnectivity with the wider matters of human concern.

Suggestions for thematic posts are welcomed, as subsequent comments will become a meaningful, issue-focussed dialogue.

Participation in informal dialogue advances the state of the debate, creating new information in an off the record environment, while at the same time creating the channels that make these ideas available to decision making.

A few preliminary markers:

• In a multistakeholder discussion social and natural sciences are primary stakeholders – accordingly references should be listed (blog posting doesn’t seem to provide for footnoting but for now they can be listed at the bottom).

• Canadian and international water managers have a lot to learn from one another.

• Markets work, but only when the playing field is levelled from all sides and not unduly affected by special interests.

• Finally, on process, we all are wading through information. Brevity is wonderful but not always possible. At a minimum, an abstract or summary introduction will improve uptake of more involved ideas.


These thoughts, like everything presented here, are on the table for dissection and discussion.