Perspectives on Ecosystem Management for the Great Lakes

A Reader

Edited by Lynton K. Caldwell

Subjects: Public Policy, Environmental Studies
Series: SUNY series in Environmental Public Policy
Paperback : 9780887067662, 365 pages, July 1988
Hardcover : 9780887067655, 365 pages, July 1988

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Table of contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Implementing an Ecological Systems Approach to Basinwide Management
Lynton K. Caldwell

1. The Ecosystems Approach: A Strategy for the Management of Renewable Resources in the Great Lakes Basin
R. L. Thomas, J. R. Vallentyne, K. Ogilvie, and J. D. Kingham

2. The Great Lakes: 1955-1985
Leonard B. Dworsky

3. Institutional Arrangements for Great Lakes Management
Michael J. Donahue

4. A Governance Structure Designed to Learn Would Better Protect the Great Lakes Ecosystem
Lester W. Milbrath

5. Remediation and Rehabilitation of the Great Lakes
Henry Regier, with the assistance of Lee Botts and John E. Gannon

6. Biodancing: The 1-2-3 of Great Lakes Monitoring
Bruce L. Bandurski

7. The Great Lakes as a Water Resource

 

A. Questions of Ownership and Control
Julia R. Wilder

B. Great Lakes Diversions: A Conflict Assessment
Sally Cole-Misch

 

8. Toward a More Accountable Process: The Royal Society-National Research Council Report
Don Munton

9. Great Lakes Governance and the Ecosystem Approach: Where Next?
George R. Francis

Appendices

 

A. Treaty between the United States and Great Britain (1909)
B. Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality (1978)
C. The Great Lakes Charter, adopted by Governors and Premiers (1985)

 

Contributors

Description

In 1978 Canada and the United States concluded an agreement for the protection and enhancement of water quality in the Great Lakes based on the ecosystem approach to management. Since ratification of this agreement, little progress has been made in practical application of this concept to basin-wide management for the Great Lakes. At the same time public concern for the quality of the Great Lakes and their future has risen dramatically. As a result, the need has arisen for a practical, authoritative explanation of the ecosystem concept. This volume, written by highly qualified authorities, addresses these important ecological, political, and economic issues in a systematic and informative manner.

In this study, the ecosystem concept and its objectives are defined. The institutional structure that has evolved for governance of the Great Lakes, the need for a more effective governance structure, and prospects for rehabilitation of the Great Lakes Waters are crucial issues considered. The management question is the single most important policy question with respect to the Great Lakes and this is the only study available that brings together all pertinent information and provides steps for new and constructive management of the Great Lakes.

Lynton K. Caldwell is Professor in the Department of Political Science and School of Public Affairs at Indiana University.