Summary of the 2022 International Institute for Sustainable Development Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop
The 2022 Canadian Prairie Water Retention Monitoring and Modelling Workshop brought together experts in the field to share research and identify next steps in the areas of advancing water retention science and business case development. This report summarizes the nine workshop presentations and discussion session held.
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There is an agreed-upon need for continued and more comprehensive monitoring efforts for water retention in the Canadian Prairies.
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There are still plenty of opportunities to optimize the ways in which we engineer, manage, and quantify the primary and co-benefits of water retention systems simultaneously.
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Technologies like spectral sensors are being used to advance the state of the art in water retention monitoring and modelling.
On June 23, 2022, The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) hosted a full-day virtual workshop on monitoring and modelling for water retention projects across the Canadian Prairies. The meeting was designed to be a place to share, receive feedback, and determine collaboration opportunities with respect to existing, ongoing, or proposed water retention projects. Participants from government and non-governmental organizations, academia, and industry were all invited to participate. In total, the workshop provided nine different presentations for 20 attendees and ended with a discussion session to identify opportunities and next steps in the areas of advancing water retention science and business case development. Presentations ranged from foundational historical research, like for those water retention structures monitored as part of the Watershed Evaluation of Beneficial Management Practices (WEBs) program, to how technologies like spectral sensors are being used to advance the state of the art in water retention monitoring and modelling today. This document summarizes those talks and key takeaways from the workshop's final discussion session.
Participating experts
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