Saskatchewan Water Governance Assessment Final Report Unit 1E Institutional Adaptation to Climate Change Project H. Diaz, M. Hurlbert, J. Warren and D. R. Corkal October 2009 1 Table of Contents Abbreviations ………………………………………………………. 3 I Introduction ………………………………………………………… 5 II Methodology .……………………………………………………….. 5 III Integrative Discussion ……………………………………………… 9 IV Conclusions .………………………………………………………… 54 V References ………………………………………………………….. 60 VI Appendices …………………………………………………………. Appendix 1 - Organizational Overviews ..………………………… 62 Introduction ……………………………………………………… 62 Saskatchewan Watershed Authority ...……..………………….… 63 Saskatchewan Ministry for Environment …..………………….… 76 Saskatchewan Ministry for Agriculture .………………………… 85 SaskWater …………………………………….…………………. 94 Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration……………………… 103 Appendix 2 - Interview Summaries ……………………….……… 115 Saskatchewan Watershed Authority ……………………….……. 116 Saskatchewan Ministry for Environment ….…………………….. 154 Saskatchewan Ministry for Agriculture .…………………….…… 182 SaskWater ………………………………………………….……. 194 Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration …………………….. 210 Irrigation Proponents ……………………………………………. 239 Watershed Advisory Groups ……………………………………. 258 Environment Canada …………………………………………….. 291 SRC ..…………………………………………………………… 298 PPWB …………………………………………………………… 305 Focus Group …………………………………………………….. 308 Appendix 3 - Field Work Guide …………………………………. 318 2 Abbreviations AAFC – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada ADD Boards – Agriculture Development and Diversification Boards AEGP - Agri-Environmental Group Plan APF – Agriculture Policy Framework (federal-provincial) AESB – Agri-Environment Services Branch of AAFC (Formerly the PFRA – name changed in 2009 CIC – Crown Investments Corporation (SK) CSIDC – Canada-Saskatchewan Irrigation Development Centre CWRC – Canada Water Research Centre (A division of Environment Canada) DFO – Fisheries and Oceans Canada EC - Environment Canada EFP – Environmental Farm Plan FRWIP – Farm and Ranch Water Infrastructure Program ICDC – Irrigation Crop Development Corporation ILO – intensive livestock operation INAC – Indian and Northern Affairs Canada IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IWMC – Integrated Water Management Committee MVA – Meewasin Valley Authority PFRA -- Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, a branch of Agriculture and Agri Food Canada PPWB – Prairie Provinces Water Board PSSRB – Partners of the South Saskatchewan River Basin 3 RM – Rural Municipality SAF - Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food -- renamed Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture (SMA) in fall 2007 – after that date the abbreviation SMA is employed SARM – Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities SCIC – Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation SERM – Saskatchewan Department of Environment and Resource Management (re- named SME - Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment in fall 2007) SES – Saskatchewan Environmental Society SIPA - Saskatchewan Irrigation Projects Association SMA – Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture – Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) prior to fall 2007 SME – Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment (known as SERM – Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management prior to fall 2007) SRC – Saskatchewan Research Council SSRWS - South Saskatchewan River Watershed Stewards Inc. SUMA – Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association SWA - Saskatchewan Watershed Authority PCAB – Provincial Council of Saskatchewan Agriculture Development and Diversification Boards PFRA - Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (name changed to AESB in 2009) PPWB – Prairie Provinces Water Board PFSRB – Partners for the Saskatchewan River Basin WAGS – Watershed Advisory Groups WAI - Watershed Awareness Initiative 4 I INTRODUCTION The IACC project seeks to develop a comprehensive understanding of the capacities of institutions to formulate and implement strategies of adaptation to the expected climate change risks and the forecasted impacts of climate change on the supply and management of water resources in the South Saskatchewan River Basin (SSRB – Western Canada) and the Elqui River Basin (Northern Chile). The project’s main objectives are to identify both the vulnerabilities related to climate and water resource scarcity of a group of rural communities in the basin and to assess the organizational capacities of governance institutions to address those vulnerabilities. Following the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) arguments on the determinants of adaptive capacity (2001), the IACC project has argued that the capacity of a community to reduce its vulnerability is determined not only by local resources but also by broader governance networks that define the use and distribution of resources. In this framework, three assessments of the capacities of water governance institutions to reduce the vulnerabilities of rural communities were completed within the project: one in Chile and two in Canada (one for Alberta and one for Saskatchewan). This document has as its main purpose to provide an integrated account of the outcomes of the assessment of the Saskatchewan governance network. The report is divided into four sections. Following the introduction, there is a short section that describes the methodological approach used in the assessment. The third section offers an integrative discussion, describing the mix of provincial, local and federal agencies concerned with water governance in Saskatchewan and the main trends associated to the themes covered by the assessment. The last section provides the conclusions of the assessment. Three appendixes complete the report. The first appendix provides an organizational overview of the main agencies involved in the Saskatchewan water governance network. The second appendix provides summaries of the outcomes of the interviews completed during the assessment. Finally, the last appendix contains the Field Work Guide for the Governance Assessment, a thematic guideline used in the interview process. II METHODOLOGY The assessment was carried out in the context of the conceptual and methodological framework of the IACC project, the “vulnerability assessment model” (See Figure 1). This model emphasizes the need to analyze not only the future vulnerability of systems, but also their vulnerability in the context of current and future climate conditions. The model identifies three sets of interrelated activities: (a) the development of a systematic understanding of the current exposure of a system (a rural community in our case) and its adaptive capacity; (b) the assessment of future climate conditions for the area where the system occurs; and (c) the assessment of future vulnerabilities based on an analysis of 5 how the existing vulnerabilities of the system will be affected by future climate conditions. Current/Past Exposures Current/Past Adaptive Strategies CURRENT/PAST FUTURE VULNERABLITY CLIMATE CONDITIONS Future Exposures Future Adaptive Strategies FUTURE VULNERABILITY Following the arguments found in Chapter 18 of the 2001 IPPC Report (IPCC, 2001) about the existence of well developed institutional frameworks as one of the determinants of adaptive capacity, one of the fundamental tasks the IACC team involved the assessment of the capacity of water governance organizations to reduce the vulnerability of rural communities. Water governance, a formal institutional framework that involves both government and civil society organizations (see Diaz and Rojas, 2006), shapes the vulnerability of rural people and rural livelihoods to climate and climate-related water problems, as a result of its central role in the management of water resources and their use by society. The assessment of water governance was carried out in Chile and Canada. Given the complexity of water governance in Canada, where provincial governments assume a leading role, it was decided to assess the governance networks of both Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Canadian assessment involved several stages: 1. The development of a methodological and operational framework for assessing water governance. This framework was developed in two working documents. The first document (Diaz and Rojas, 2006) provides conceptual and methodological guidelines for assessing governance in the area of water resources. This document discusses the concept of institution, the nature of the 6 formal institutions to be assessed, and the main dimensions of a governance assessment. The second document provides a baseline description of the conditions of water governance in Canada, identifying the roles and mandates of federal, provincial, and local levels of government in the management of water resources (Corkal, Inch, and Adkins, 2007). 2. The development of an “inventory” of the governance of water resources in the SSRB with the purpose of identifying the characteristics of the multiple organizations that participate in water resources management in the basin. This inventory was developed in a third working document, which presents information about the formal roles and responsibilities of the organizations in the basin, their links with other organizations, and the main policies, plans, and regulations that govern or affect decision-making with regards to water resources in the basin (Orrego, 2007). Based on the information provided by this last document, and in consultation with stakeholders, a set of private and public organizations participating in the water governance in each of the two provinces were selected for the purpose of the assessment. 3. The development