scholarly journals The International Joint Commission and Great Lakes Diversions: Indirectly Extending the Reach of the Boundary Waters Treaty

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Dan Tarlock
Keyword(s):  
Great Lakes ◽  
Joint Commission ◽  
International Joint Commission ◽  
International Joint

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Langston
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Joint Commission ◽  
International Joint Commission ◽  
International Joint ◽  
The 1960S

By the 1960s, the failures of research and cooperative pragmatism to control Great Lakes pollution were becoming painfully evident. In 1972 Canada and the United States signed the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The agreement was groundbreaking in its focus on cleaning up existing pollution and preventing new pollutants, but the International Joint Commission has no authority to force the two nations to implement recommendations. Therefore, when Canada or the United States refuses to abide by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (in its various revisions), very little happens in response—besides calls for more research.

Achieving pollution prevention goals for transboundary waters through international joint commission processes

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 223-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Duda
Keyword(s):  
Water Pollution ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Pollution Prevention ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Joint Commission ◽  
Transboundary Water ◽  
International Joint Commission ◽  
The World ◽  
International Joint

Across the world, transboundary water pollution interferes with man's use of water, degrades aquatic ecosystems, causes human health impacts, and increases tensions between nations. While developing nations are just beginning to assess the extent of transboundary water quality degradation, developed countries have learned over the years that pollution prevention, not cleanup actions or end-of-pipe treatment is the most cost-effective approach to fighting water pollution. The extent of transboundary water pollution across the world is reviewed in the paper, and key elements are outlined for addressing pollution prevention needs through joint institutions as part of international commissions. The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River basin in North America is used as an example of where multimedia pollution prevention initiatives are being implemented to resolve transboundary pollution problems. The joint institutions for the Great Lakes cleanup utilized under the auspices of the International Joint Commission (U.S. and Canada) are described. Lessons learned from this experience include: (1) significance of multimedia pollution prevention measures to address toxic substances, (2) use of ecosystem-based, watershed approaches targeted to high priority catchments, and (3) political advantages of employing joint institutions to facilitate progress, undertake oversight and verification functions, foster public participation, and establish credibility and trust among the parties through joint fact-finding.

scholarly journals Le traité canado-américain des eaux limitrophes et la Commission mixte internationale

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwel Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Joint Commission ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
General Character ◽  
International Joint Commission ◽  
International Joint ◽  
The Future

The general character of Canada-U.S. relations would have been sharply different in the past 65-70 years had there not been established the International Joint Commission under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. That Treaty anticipated in a remarkably prophetic way the lively and sometimes dangerous disputes that arise over shared water resources, boundary and trans-boundary. By providing a mechanism for the settlement of disputes over boundary and trans-boundary water courses, lakes, rivers, etc. and by providing also an investigative mechanism for all other disputes that' may take place along the boundary, the framers of the Boundary Waters Treaty created perhaps better than they knew. For the International Joint Commission has proven to be an instrument of flexibility and high utility. For almost 70 years it has issued Orders of Approval in over 50 cases involving the construction of works affecting the levels and flows of boundary waters as well as causing trans-boundary waters to rise at the boundary and therefore, requiring the approval of the Commission. The whole question of water use/water allocation between neighbouring states sharing common river basins or having rivers and lakes as boundaries is involved in this exercise. It could not have been foreseen, however, that the pioneer language of the pollution provisions of the Boundary Waters Treaty should have moved the Commission with ease into the environmental era. While the Commission was investigating pollution of water questions as early as 1912, and while it recommended a Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Pollution Treaty as early as 1920, it was a great achievement of both countries in signing the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972 and again in 1978, which created the massive environmental role as monitor, co-ordinator and advisor that the Commission now plays in relation to both governments in the Great Lakes basin, and also, in the other watersheds along the 5 500 mile frontier of both countries. With the rise in the knowledge of air pollution, and the interfacing between air, water and land use, there is now a whole complex that is ecologically at the basis of the concerns of Canada and the United States and is of prime interest to the Commission, and has become a fundamental aspect of its work. The future of the Commission is vital to the future of both countries as its successful past has been in maintaining reasonably friendly relations despite the tensions which disputes over water resources can cause. It is the thrust of this paper to describe and demonstrate the processes in dispute avoidance and dispute settlement, in shared resource-planning, for which the Boundary Waters Treaty, the Great Lakes Quality Agreement and the work of the Commission now stand.

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