The Government of the Northwest Territories announced that it has released the next Water Strategy Action Plan, the Northwest Territories’ plan to responsibly and collaboratively steward our waters.
“I’d like to recognize the contributions of our water partners across the Northwest Territories, with whom we share a vision to ensure NWT waters remain clean, abundant, and productive for all time,” said Shane Thompson, minister of environment and natural resources.
The NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Action Plan, 2021-2025 sets clear actions under four priority areas:
- Working together: collaborating to share information and build strong partnerships.
- Know and plan: learning more about the ever-changing realities of NWT’s waters—and using that information to inform our efforts.
- Use responsibly: actions ensuring water managers have the information necessary to make well-reasoned decisions.
- Check our progress: reporting regularly to make sure we are on the right track.
Each of these actions will help foster a future where waters are wisely stewarded to meet the territory’s environmental, social, and economic goals over the long term.
This plan was developed with the input of dozens of water partners who all play a role in water stewardship. Water partners include Indigenous governments and organizations, non-profit organizations, academics, and industry. They also include federal, territorial, and community governments.
These partners will gather virtually for the annual Water Strategy Implementation Workshop in mid-November to discuss the new Action Plan and how to continue to work collaboratively on implementation over the next five-years.
The header image shows an aerial view of the Mackenzie River upstream from Fort Simpson in the Northwest Territories. Image Credit: Tessa MacIntosh, WWF-Canada.
