International Journal of Water Governance 6:3 (2018) 43–64 43 DOI: 10.7564/18-IJWG134 Getting to ecosystem-based function: Exploring the power to influence Columbia River Treaty modernization towards ecosystem considerations William Jesse Baltutis a,*, Michele-Lee Moore b, Stephen Tyler c a Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada Email:
[email protected] b Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden Email:
[email protected] c Adaptive Resource Management Ltd., Victoria, Canada Email:
[email protected] Abstract Governance of international rivers is shifting to include a diversity of actors below the nation state, and interests beyond those traditionally conceived to facilitate economic growth and secu- rity, such as hydropower and flood risk management. Consequently, the degree and mechanisms of influence and power of these new actors is of increasing interest in transboundary water gov- ernance scholarship, to understand whose voices are heard and whose interests are included in decision-making processes. We introduce a typology of power developed by Barnett and Duvall (2005) to illustrate the influence of Indigenous nations and local actors to position ecosystem-based function as a primary objective for modernization of the 1964 Columbia River Treaty (CRT) in the Pacific Northwest of North America. We identify four themes that emerged from the data analysis that explain the influence of Indigenous nations and local actors on CRT modernization: a shift in the legal landscape regarding Indigenous rights and title in resource management; an evolution in societal values regarding environmental issues; efforts of Indigenous nations and local actors to frame the issues for CRT modernization; and, engagement of Indigenous nations in transboundary collaboration for CRT modernization.