By Leslie Woo

© COPYRIGHT 1996

Introduction:

The history of the role of the International Joint Commission and the development of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between Canada and the United States has been well documented elsewhere (Caldwell ed. 1988, Colborn et al 1990, IJC 1990, Hartig & Zarull 1992). As such this paper focuses on the evolution of the "ecosystem approach" in theory and practice originating with the seminal 1978 document prepared by the Great Lakes Research Advisory Board for the IJC entitled: "The Ecosystem Approach - Scope and Implications of an Ecosystem Approach to Transboundary Problems in the Great Lakes Basin". (GLRA 1978) and further examining the interpretation of this approach through to the current implementation of Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) in Canada.

Background:

In 1909, the International Joint Commission, a binational organization between the United States of America and Canada was established under the Boundary Waters Treaty. Originally focusing on resolving disputes of transboundary navigation (IJC 1990), however, within the first six decades of the 20th century a series of environmental crises culminated in the signing of the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA). In the early part of the century water borne diseases prompted water treatment systems, in the 50's the Great Lakes fisheries were being devastated by sea lamprey, and in the mid 60's Lake Erie was a dying ecosystem, overloaded by wastes from human activities (euthrophication/phosphorous loadings). The Cuyahoga River burned from excessive oil and debris in 1969, High mercury content in Lakes Erie and St. Clair closed the fisheries industries.

The 1972 agreement addressed the urgent problem of euthrophication using as its main strategy, municipal sewage treatment. As a result of this agreement an process of "intensive research, analysis and debate" was initiated (Colborn et al 1990:3), focusing on identifying the land-based human activities that likely were impacting water quality. This work led to the 1978 GLWQA which specifically set out "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem." (IJC 1978: Art. II). This agreement was preceded four months prior by a report prepared by the Great Lakes Research Advisory (GLRA) of the IJC on the scope and implications of an ecosystem approach in the Great Lakes (GLRA 1978) entitled "An Ecosystem Approach".

"Man-in-a-System"

The GLRA 1978 report based the definition of an ecosystem approach on a "man-in-a-system" concept as opposed to a "system-external-to-man" concept, the latter being representative of the 1972 GLWQA according to the GLRA. The ecosystem approach was described as capable of providing "the philosophical basis for a view of man as part of nature", thus focusing the efforts of the IJC and the parties to the GLWQA on "treatment of the patient (the Ecosystem) rather than the symptoms or disease" (GLRA 1978: vii). The GLRA saw the ecosystem approach as a "necessary integrative framework" linking many human activities with the non-human parts of the Ecosystem and biosphere. The main conclusion of the GLRA was that the "accent on water quality objectives in the absence of an ecosystem approach was constraining the ability to prevent pollution of the Great Lakes " and the ability to address issues of health and injury to property transferred by vehicles other than water. This 1978 GLRA report specifically recommended that an ecosystem approach be explicitly recognized within IJC policy and those policies of the two signing nations for identifying problems, research and management in the Great Lakes Basin.

Interestingly, the 1978 GLRA report makes a case for viewing the IJC and its related institutions as a "diagnostic and prescriptive service" (GLRA 1978: 2) on issues of ecosystem health - based on the ecosystem links between the human body and the biosphere. The report continues the analogy comparing a water quality approach to "blood analysis" as an inadequate diagnostic tool for discerning human health. The report further elaborates as follows:

"The ecosystem approach advocated here includes the concept of carrying capacity, the notion that there are limits in ecosystems to the abundance and activity of particular species at particular times and locations. It also includes the concept of man as a species with internal (biological) and external (technological) components of mass and metabolism. Jointly considered, these imply ecosystem and biosphere constraints to growth of population and technology." (GLRA 1978: 3)

The report recognizes that ecosystems operate at numerous scales and the definition of the boundaries of an ecosystem are arbitrarily defined but typically on the basis of chemical and energy transfers in and out of the system. As well, the report states that the inclusion or exclusion of "man" is not inherent to the ecosystem concept, rather it is a matter of definition whether man is in or out. In sum, the report states that "The examination of the Basin as an Ecosystem, simultaneously relating events within the Ecosystem to those in surrounding areas in biospheric perspective, constitutes an ecosystem approach."

As part of demonstrating the differences between the ecosystem and water quality approaches the report discusses five issues in detail: I) acid rain, ii) road salt, iii) carrying capacity, iv) attitudes, perception & behaviour and v) surveillance.

Of further note, this 1978 report pointed to the fact that the IJC had in fact been researching and addressing issues other than water quality however without the integrative characteristics of an ecosystem approach, and as such required better integration of its activities. As well, the report called for integrating the various pieces of relevant legislation of which it lists 9 acts in the U.S. and 9 acts in Ontario and Canada. The report recommended six amendments to the 1972 GLWQA which shifted the focus specifically from "restoring and enhancing water quality" to the recognition that restoration and enhancement of water quality was unachievable independently of other parts of with which the waters interact. All of these recommendations remain intact within the current agreement.

The report identified five criteria for comparing and evaluating the water quality and ecosystem approaches:

i) Man-in-Nature

ii) Relationships with Neighbouring Areas

iii) Dynamics (e.g transport /flows of energy and materials)

iv) Attitudes, Perceptions , Behaviour - (public interest and connecting people to the Basin)

v) Limits - (of human activities)

Report recommendations for practical implementation of the ecosystem approach (GLRA 1978:32-33):

i) Integration of management structures

ii) IJC to co-ordinate institutional arrangements

iii) Take a better account of "long" term factors (e.g. stressors, carrying capacity, atmospheric transport and future generations)

iv) new transboundary legislation

v) recognition of the ecosystem approach as policy via GLWQA and Treaty

vi) Review IJC structures and organization to reflect an ecosystem approach

vii) Attract major public interest to the concepts of ecosystems and biosphere at all social levels.

In essence the amendments that created the 1978 GLWQA reflect the recommendations of the GLRA 1978 report.

Selected References:

Allen, Timothy F.H. et al. 1994. "The Ecosystem Approach: Theory and Ecosystem Integrity" Report to the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board. Windsor, Ontario. 67pp.

Caldwell, Lynton K. "Disharmony in the Great Lakes Basin - Institutional Jurisdictions Frustrate the Ecosystem Approach." Alternatives v.20 n.3 (1994) 26-31.

Caldwell, Lynton, K. ed. 1988. "Perspectives on Ecosystem Management for the Great Lakes" Albany, New York: State University of New York. 365pp.

Colborn, T.E. et al. 1990. "Great Lakes - Great Legacy?". The Conservation Foundadtion and Institute of Research on Public Policy. Baltimore, MD.

Great Lakes Research Advisory Board. July 1978. The Ecosystem Approach: Scope and Implications of an Ecosystem Approach to Transboundary Problems in the Great Lakes Basin. prepared for the International Joint Commission. Windsor, Ontario. 47pp.

Gurtner-Zimmermann, Arnold. 1994. "Ecosystem Approach to Planning in the Great Lakes: A Mid-Term Review of Remedial Action Plans". PhD Thesis. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

International Joint Commission - USA and Canada. "Revised Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978 - as amended by Protocol Signed November 18, 1987". Office Consolidation. Reprinted February 1994. Windsor, Ontario. 64pp.

International Joint Commission. 1990. "The International Joint Commission and the Boundary Waters Treaty". Windsor, Ontario. 24pp.