Watersheds and the Bioeconomy
IISD’s bioeconomy work is linked to our focus on watersheds where under-utilized plant sources, such as agricultural residues and wetland plants, can be harvested sustainably and turned into sources of energy, plastics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Our experts in land and water policy, watershed analysis, modelling, stakeholder consultations, ecosystem services and environmental economics work with public and private partners to develop bioeconomies around the world. We succeed through landscape analyses, by forming partnerships for harvesting and processing and by developing markets and policies for implementing sustainable processes.
-
Peatland Mining in Manitoba’s Interlake: Cumulative impacts analysis focusing on potential nutrient loading and greenhouse gas emissions
Peat has been mined in Manitoba for over 70 years and currently represents approximately 13 per cent of Canada’s horticulture peat production...
Read More -
Advancing Netley-Libau Marsh Restoration Efforts: Cattail biomass and nutrient survey of Netley-Libau Marsh
Lake Winnipeg is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world and drains a watershed area of 1,000,000 square kilometres. Overloading of...
Read More -
Strategic Large-Basin Management for Multiple Benefits: Submission to the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission
This paper was submitted to the Manitoba Clean Environment Commission (CEC) for consideration in its review of the regulation of Lake Winnipeg...
Read More -
Cattail Biomass in a Watershed-Based Bioeconomy: Commercial-scale harvesting and processing for nutrient capture, biocarbon and high-value bioproducts
One of the fundamental insights of the Watershed-Bioeconomy research is that phosphorus, the nutrient responsible for fouling Lake Winnipeg and...
Read More -
Watershed Indicators
A common barrier to effective planning In watersheds around the world is the complexity of the multi-faceted issues, incomplete and inaccessible...
Read More -
Cattail Biomass to Energy: Commercial-scale harvesting of cattail biomass for biocarbon and solid fuel
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) has explored the harvesting of cattail (Typha spp.) as a component of watershed...
Read More -
Nature's wealth: Wetlands as filters, fuel, flood protection and food
This publication, originally published as a news-style insert in the Winnipeg Free Press and the Brandon Sun, explores the many benefits of...
Read More -
Bioeconomies at a Watershed Scale (brochure)
This brochure provides an overview of IISD’s watershed-focused approach to the bioeconomy.To do so, it details two case studies of watershed-based...
Read More - Video
Cattails for Clean Community Waterways
In 2013, the City of Winnipeg and IISD embarked on a project to turn locally harvested cattail (Typha) and native prairie grasses into pellets to...
Read More -
Cattails Harvesting for Carbon Offsets and Nutrient Capture: A "Lake Friendly" greenhouse gas project
The Cattail Biomass Harvesting project is pursuing and evaluating the commercial-scale harvesting of cattail (Typha spp.) for its multiple co...
Read More
