Rediscovering and Revitalizing the Great Lakes Governance

摘要

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States is a model of international cooperation to protect shared water resources. It contains a covenantal component committing the parties to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of waters of the Great Lakes Basin ecosystem and a commitment to adopt an ecosystem approach. Presently the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is under its once-every-six-years formal review called for by the Agreement, which provides an opportunity to revisit its successes and failings, and to imagine new forms and scope of environmental governance for the Great Lakes. This case study summarizes the early history of Great Lakes, their pollution, and their emerging bi-national governance. It explores the promises of the early years of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the growing gap between promise and results, and the current effort to reform and revitalize Great Lakes governance through the review of the Agreement. A consensus is emerging that proposes new models of governance with improved public participation, reformed coordination among the agencies that comprise the Great Lakes regime, the articulation of a strong vision or covenant, inclusion of First Nations/Tribes, and recognition of the special status and associated treaty obligations of both Canada and the United States to effectively include Native perspectives and indigenous knowledge into Great Lakes institutions.