In the PHJV, policy initiatives are activities undertaken by joint venture partners with the purpose of supporting government legislation, policies and programs that benefit wetlands and upland waterfowl habitat.
Agricultural land use changes, wetland loss, and water management under conditions of flooding or drought, are major issues of current policy concern to the PHJV that are common across all three Prairie Provinces.
Despite consistency in these issues of current policy concern across the three Prairie Provinces, joint venture partners recognize that the key determinants affecting wetlands and upland waterfowl habitat on the Canadian prairies relate to water management, land use, and resource development policies.
These matters fall almost exclusively within the jurisdictional authorities of the provincial governments of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. While the issues of wetland loss, agricultural land use change and water management may be common to all three provinces, the status of public policy development and approach to deal with these issues is different in each jurisdiction.Thus, the opportunities and approach to influence provincial policies are also different.