The provincial water protection strategy, released just before Christmas, lays out smart steps to protect water, an ambitious timeline to enact them, and demonstrates what can happen when people speak up for clean water.
That was the message our Executive Director, Lois Corbett, had for reporters after the provincial government unveiled its plan, A Water Strategy For New Brunswick, on Dec. 22, 2017.
Corbett spoke with Terry Seguin of CBC Information Morning Fredericton a few days after its release. Listen to the full interview here. Briefly below, a couple of important points:
- Corbett said the main difference between the final strategy and the draft released in October 2017 is the final version included itemized action steps to clearly identify priorities, giving New Brunswickers a timeline to monitor progress — or a lack thereof — and giving New Brunswickers confidence that the strategy won’t just collect dust on a shelf for the next decade.
- She said the water protection strategy also looks more thoroughly at the impact climate change is having on water — something that was missing from the draft. “If there is anything New Brunswickers know after last January, it’s that climate change is here and it’s having an impact, so we need to integrate water and climate change and work on them carefully and smartly,” Corbett said.
Corbett also spoke with CBC New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal.
Recommended links:
- Read the Conservation Council’s press release on the water strategy
- Read A Water Strategy for New Brunswick
- Read the technical working group’s Recommendations for Enhanced Watershed Management in New Brunswick
- Read the government’s press release on the water strategy
- Read the Conservation Council’s full submission on the draft water strategy (November 2017)
- Read the Conservation Council’s statement on the release of the draft water strategy (October 2017)