Engaging with River Management Practioners at the 26th International River Symposium
Since 1998 a regular gathering that started in Brisbane has seen practioners with a focus on catchments, rivers and land and water assets come together. With a focus on the needs of various industries and communities, how do various management strategies across the world sustain the cultural, ecological and economic values?
This a broad agenda that the International River Foundation explores from various perspectives. This year “River Revolution: Accelerating Solutions for Climate Resilience” was the framing. So ways to build resilience to future impacts floods was one story line. It was a timely opportunity for the history and efforts of the Flood Community of Practice to be shared with these delegates. And as a participant who attended the very first Symposium and many since, I believed it was a moment to share the rich body of knowledge that Flood Community of Practice has compiled.
We were engaging at our interactive stand on the Riverwalk Showcase, inviting delegates to share their experiences in the River Mosaic storytelling activity, and by hosting a Masterclass on Flood Resilience Futures.
These activities showcased how our practioner based network community has extensive knowledge, lived experience, diversity in our organisational roles and disciplines plus various collaborative tools that can allow science, technical on ground applications and social perspectives to shape more resilient river and catchment futures.
RiverWalk Showcase
Our stand welcomed delegates, practitioners, writers, and community members from around the world. It was a space to hear and see the FloodCoP’s initiatives, including the Fluvial Transect tool, plus on display a unique collection of books on flooding based from a SEQ experience – thank you team JDA, Margaret Cook and Jamie Simonds.
It was a pleasure to meet delegates, as they took time to share their experiences, suggest new partnerships and reinforce the importance of collaborative approaches to water and catchment management.
It was a delight to see people spot themselves in our banner – from the Gold Coast to floodplains of Dalby.
A reminder that your work and stories continue to shape the Flood CoP journey. In 2016 Andrew O’Neil, with this pensive look, was also a part of the 150 participants building Water Futures..
Invitation to contribute to a River Mosaic
We launched a participatory storytelling activity where each person was invited to contribute a special and meaningful river image, plus reflect on why that river that matters to them and also what other people might also value this place. As the images come in, we plan to build a pictorial collection and stories to curate a digital mosaic that illustrates the deep and diverse relationships people hold with waterways.
To thank participants for sharing their stories, FloodCoP held a prize draw. Three lucky contributors each won a set of three influential books on rivers, resilience, and community leadership; a small gesture to honour the generosity of those who added their voices to the River Mosaic. Congratulations to Margie Milgate from Brisbane, Jadviga Kobryn-Coletti from Canberra and Michael Wundke form Adelaide for be willing to share their favorite River places and people
✨ Watch this space: we’ll unveil the completed River Mosaic once all contributions are in.
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What else was underway at the Symposium?
Closing thank you
The financial support from the Flood Community of Practice partners is what enables us to participate in a conference like this – and the feedback from the MasterClass and ongoing interest in the River Mosaic shows this was a sound investment.
To the team at the IRF Jodie Bignall, Eva Abal, Jo Kane and Olivia Wallace your encouragement and support to be involved was much appreciated.
Also the various Flood CoP partners of Himanthi Mendis, Declan Hearne and Will Prentice at the MasterClass along with the communication smarts from Adriana Sanchez-Rosas made the efforts all come together.