PEI Watershed Alliance and PEOPLE-ECCO: Earth Observation for community-led conservation

The Prince Edward Island Watershed Alliance (PEIWA) is one of the Early Adopters within the ESA’s PEOPLE-ECCO project, and one of its two aquatic use cases.

Heather Laiskonis, Executive Director of the PEI Watershed Alliance, shared the organisation's vision for the collaboration in an interview with PEOPLE-ECCO.

An island of watersheds

The PEI Watershed Alliance is the umbrella organisation for 25 community-based watershed groups across Prince Edward Island, in the Maritimes region of Canada. As Laiskonis explains, "we are the smallest province in Canada with the highest population density", a combination that places its rivers, streams, and coastal waters under particular pressure.

Photo: © PEI Watershed Alliance

Prince Edward Island is home to more than 250 watersheds, which provide the province's drinking water © PEI Watershed Alliance

Working across the entire province, the Alliance and its member groups focus on habitat restoration, water dynamics, community engagement, and climate change adaptation. As Laiskonis describes it, "we are boots on the ground" and "a bottom up organisation", with each member group retaining its autonomy while the Alliance provides a united voice.

Informed decisions from above

The Alliance is not new to the use of Earth Observation. "We have engaged Earth observations in our work for many years now," Laiskonis shares, "and it helps us understand the dynamics of water flow, the land use changes across time."

For an organisation working across more than 250 watersheds with limited resources, this perspective is invaluable. Earth Observation, Laiskonis explains, "gives us the ability to make more informed decisions, and it helps us target areas that we want to work in or areas that have the greatest need."

Photo: © PEI Watershed Alliance

Members conducting fieldwork activities

Refining strategies with PEOPLE-ECCO

Through PEOPLE-ECCO, the Alliance aims to build on this foundation and refine how it prioritises its work. PEIWA may use these technologies to make better land-use planning decisions, and to respond more quickly to change. "We hope to affect change in a more real time once we adopt all of the technologies that PEOPLE-ECCO is offering us," Laiskonis says.

The main target is climate adaptation. With the growing availability of EO data, Laiskonis sees the potential to develop real-time climate adaptation strategies, a priority for an island in the front line of a changing climate.

Photo: © PEI Watershed Alliance

PEIWA member alliance boundary lines

For PEIWA, the collaboration also carries a broader goal: making advanced tools accessible to the kind of small, community-led organisations for which they are often out of reach.

"I'm thrilled that people are going to have the opportunity to learn about all the great work we do in our communities," she reflects. Because smaller community-led organisations often operate with very limited funds, access to this kind of activity and data is frequently beyond their means. "This will help us target restoration activities and get them important data that they might not otherwise have access to," Laiskonis concludes. 

More information

The Prince Edward Island Watershed Alliance (PEIWA) is a non-profit cooperative association of 25 community-based watershed groups on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Its goal is to improve and protect the environmental quality of the Island's watersheds for the benefit of all residents, empowering its member groups through cooperation, shared resources, and a united voice on Island-wide watershed issues.

If you are interested in the activities of the PEI Watershed Alliance, you can learn more about via their official website.