Summary Report | Natural Solutions for Water Security: Canada’s policy path forward
The case for natural infrastructure is well established. This report captures the key findings and emerging action agenda from a national forum, hosted by IISD and the Climate Risk Institute, focused on the policies, financing, standards, and partnerships needed to make natural infrastructure a mainstream approach to water security and climate resilience.
Key Findings
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The case is made. Now we need the enabling conditions. The forum reached a clear conclusion: the benefits of natural infrastructure are well established. The challenge now is building the standards, data, funding mechanisms, policies, & capacity needed to move from pilot projects to implementation.
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Natural infrastructure must become business as usual. Leaders from government, industry, watershed organizations, academia, and non-profits agreed that natural infrastructure should be treated as a core part of water management and considered from the earliest stages of planning and investment.
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Better evidence can unlock investment. Participants highlighted the need for consistent data and benefit measurement to support decision-making, strengthen the case for investment, and attract both public and private capital to natural infrastructure projects.
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The forum identified four recurring priorities: improving policy and program design, building capacity for implementation, strengthening evidence of benefits, and embedding Indigenous collaboration from the outset of projects.
The Natural Solutions for Water Security: Canada’s Policy Path Forward forum was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on June 17-18, 2026. This report is a summary and record of the event, which was co-hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Climate Risk Institute (CRI) through IISD’s Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions initiative. The forum brought together leaders from government, watershed organizations, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations to identify opportunities and actions to scale natural infrastructure for water security and climate resilience.
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