The Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy is an activity of the University of California created through an endowment gift from the Bank of America in honor of Richard Rosenberg on the occasion of his retirement as Chairman of the Bank. The overarching theme of the Forum is: To reduce conflict in the management of water resources. The Forum pursues two objectives in an effort to address this theme. The first is to emphasize the role of science in water management and in the making of water policy. The second is to promote interaction between scientists and policy makers for the purpose of facilitating the use of science in the making and executing of water policy. These objectives are accomplished through the biennial meetings of the Rosenberg Forum where approximately 50 water scholars and senior water managers from around the globe have an opportunity for discourse on a variety of topics which are pertinent to contemporary global water problems.
The Advisory Committee of the Rosenberg International Forum has recently launched a second activity subsumed under the general title of ?Regional Rosenberg Workshops.? The concept of the Workshop entails the convening of a small, international expert panel to consider a regional water problem or problems and offer scientific advice about the nature of the problem and the ways in which it might be addressed. This document is the report of the first of these Regional Rosenberg Workshops. This Workshop was convened at the request of the Minister of the Environment, Province of Alberta, Canada. The Minister and the Ministry sought advice on two questions. The panel was asked first to review the Alberta water strategy, Water for Life, and make recommendations as to how it could be strengthened both as a strategic document and in the implementation of various measures that make up that strategy. Second, in recognition of the increasing importance of groundwater in Alberta?s water budget, the panel was asked to review the existing arrangements for governing and managing groundwater in the Province and make recommendations about how those arrangements could be further strengthened and improved.
