The Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy was created in 1996. It is named for Richard Rosenberg, former Chairman of the Bank of America. Upon Mr. Rosenberg's retirement in 1994, the Bank of America endowed the University of California in his name with resources to help support an invitational biennial water forum for the world's leading water scholars and senior water management practitioners. The main thrust of these Forums is the resolution of conflict emerging from trans-boundary water issues. The first of these Forums were held in San Francisco, U.S.A.; Barcelona, Spain; Canberra, Australia; and Ankara, Turkey.
The 5th Biennial Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy was held in Banff, Canada between September 6th and 11th, 2006. The principal sponsors of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy are the University of California and the Bank of America. Local co-sponsors for the 5th Forum included Alberta Environment, Alberta Ingenuity Centre for Water Research, Alberta Irrigation Projects Association, The Banff Centre, The Max Bell Foundation, The Calgary Foundation, the Columbia Basin Trust, Zaragoza EXPO2008 and the United Nations Water for Life Decade initiative in Canada.
Participants in the Forum included 52 scholars and water managers from 24 countries. The theme of the Forum was: ?Upland Watershed Management in an Era of Global Climate Change.? The Forum included a two-day pre-Forum field trip through the UNESCO Canadian Rockies World Heritage Site to examine modern upland watershed practices, two days of formal presentations and a post-Forum field trip to the Columbia River Basin, which was the subject of a case study at Rosenberg Forum IV held in Ankara, Turkey in 2004.
There are seven over-arching lessons for Albertans and Canadians from the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy that was held in Banff in the fall of 2006.
The formal sessions include three general sessions on topics related to upland watershed management practices around the world and the implications of global climate change for upland watershed management. There followed four case studies which included the Jordan, Saskatchewan and Rhone River Basins and the International Joint Commission, a bilateral institution created a century ago to resolve boundary water disputes between Canada and the United States. A copy of the Forum program is appended to this document. The following Executive Summary identifies the main themes from each session and the key lessons for Canada.
