M5 AM Managing Environment Issues for the Next 25 Years: The Role of Science
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in 321-323

(KRA-1117-720728) The Future of Great Lakes Governance.

krantzberg, g¹, ¹ McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

ABSTRACT- The International Joint Commission (IJC) is an independent binational organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA), first signed in 1972, revised in 1978 and by protocol in 1987, expresses the commitment of each country to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. The GLWQA is a standing reference to the IJC under the Boundary Waters Treaty. Article X (4) of the GLWQA calls for Canada and United States to conduct a comprehensive review of the operation and effectiveness of the GLWQA following every third biennial report of the IJC. No review of the GLWQA has been completed since 1987. The GLWQA already includes the concept of ecosystem-based management in a number of places, but the concept is not well developed and it sometimes appears to conflict with other language that emphasizes water quality. The GLWQA also needs to emphasize ecosystem integrity in the context of the multi-media nature of the environmental problems encountered on the Great Lakes. Many aspects of ecosystem integrity have matured since the 1987 amendments. These aspects for the future of Great Lakes governance could be made explicit in order to balance the historic focus on chemical degradation. There is an opportunity to insert terms and phrases in various annexes to reflect ongoing ecosystem-based management programs. Over the last 30 years the Great Lakes have been recognized as an international model for environmental protection and institutional cooperation. When the GLWQA is reviewed beginning 2006, it should call on the current state of the science to ensure the Great Lakes region has the opportunity to provide world leadership in addressing the sustainability issues of today.

Key words: great lakes, binational govenance, environmental policy, sustainable communities