Why waterway restoration matters and what does it look like?
Catchment and waterway health is vital for the long-term resilience of our local and downstream communities, ecosystems, and agricultural landscapes. This field trip allowed participants to see firsthand what’s working (and what’s challenging) in real restoration projects, guided by those actively doing the work.
Participants left with a clearer understanding of the technical approaches and the relationships, funding models, and long-term thinking required to scale this work across regions.
During the day participants were tasked with BUILDING A WORD CLOUD. Elements that entail and enable waterway restoration were written down after each site, and were prompted by building a localised systems picture of:
(i) why we are doing waterway restoration
(ii) what is entailed in the design, implementation and maintenance of these restoration intaivares
(iii) the benefits of these efforts
Compiling these 4 word clouds, from 360 pieces of paper!! – and then translating into a systems framework is proving to be challenging!!! Efforts are underway – with Piet Filet’s systems analysis skills being pushed to the limit – even AI is pretty ordinary at helping!! But please, watch this spot for an imminent addition of the 4 word clouds and a systems framework.