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The Canmore Economic Development Authority (CEDA) is partnering with the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, the Town of Canmore and The Natural Step Canada on this project. CEDA will act as the fiscal agent and the Biosphere Institute will provide project coordination and serve as the community coordinator.

This initiative will engage the municipality, local businesses, organizations (i.e. school, seniors centre), and private citizens in the Natural Step Framework.

Traditional sustainable community planning approaches may involve either a municipality-specific focus or a broad stakeholder and citizen consultation process to articulate a future scenario and certain community-wide actions.
 

Partners in Economic Development

  Town of Canmore
  Tourism Canmore
  The Biosphere Institute
  BOWDA
  Mountain Arts Foundation
  Canmore Community Housing Corporation
  MD of Bighorn # 8
  Chamber of Commerce

Associate Membership
Canmore Business Registry

The approach of this project is to train and work with leading local organizations, or Early Adopters, including the municipality and businesses, using a common set of science-based principles of sustainability to identify strategies and actions. The knowledge and lessons of those Early Adopters are then shared with the broader community.

The breakthrough in this technique is in “beginning with the end in mind” and in defining success based on rigorous, scientifically based principles of sustainability rather than on future scenarios, the actual sustainability of which is unknown.

The Canmore initiative will serve as template for other communities in Alberta and throughout Canada to develop effective sustainability programs.