PARENT SESSION
MP1 - Sustainable Development: Science, Adaptive Management & Ecosystem Restoration
Chair: Luoma, Sam1, 1 USGS, Menlo Park, CA
2:10 PM to 5:30 PM - Monday, 18 November 2002
Room Ballroom G-I
(253) Community Capacity to sustain Great Lakes remediation.
Krantzberg, Gail*,1, 1 International Joint Commission, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT- In 1909, there was an event that demonstrated respectful wisdom, that water does not abide by politics. The signing of the Boundary Waters Treaty by Canada and United States was a landmark event to protect the shared waters of the two nations. This set the stage for the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement developed between Canada and the United States in 1972. The two countries committed to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. The two countries revised the Agreement in 1987 and specifically called for the development of Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) at Areas of Concern (42) where ecosystem deterioration was particularly pronounced. RAPs were to embody a systematic and comprehensive ecosystem approach to restoring and protecting ecological integrity. The Agreement called for the federal governments, in cooperation with state and provincial governments, to ensure the public was consulted throughout the development and implementation of the Plans. While RAPs are iterative planning and action documents, the most significant success of this experiment in adaptive management was the building of community capacity to sustain momentum. Despite funding hurdles, in many locations RAPs are working and advancing substantive remediation and prevention programs. Elements that sustain progress include: -a strong and organized public, -ownership by local government, -trust and cooperation through frank dialogue and agreement on vision and goals, -commitment to integrate water quality with land use, economic development, and other matters of local importance, -respect for different motivations among participants while working towards a common goal, -quantitative restoration targets, routine reporting and celebrating of progress, -a well defined critical path coupled with a strong commitment to adapting to change, and -marketing the plan to potential partners, leveraging the local economy through proven and new coalitions.
Key words: Great Lakes, Remediation, Area of Concern, Sustainability