Transboundary Collaboration in Ecosystem Management: Integrating Lessons from Experience
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TransboundaryTransboundary CollaborationCollaboration inin EcosystemEcosystem Management:Management: Integrating Lessons from Experience Elizabeth Harris, Chase Huntley, William Mangle, Naureen Rana University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment April 17, 2001 A project submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science of Natural Resources Faculty Advisors: Professor Julia Wondolleck Professor Steve Yaffee Cover photo credits (upper left to lower right): 1. San Pedro River photo from U.S. Department of the Interior, CD Cover, “San Pedro River Basin Spatial Data Archive.” 2. British Columbia Rockies. Naureen Rana. 3. Sonoran Desert. Naureen Rana. 4. Flathead Basin Land Use Map. Base map from Montana Wilderness Association, www.wildmontana.org/Transboundary.jpg. 5. North Fork Flathead River. Naureen Rana. 6. U.S.- Mexico Border. Naureen Rana. 7. Dan Pedro Divided Waters – Common Ground Conference. Photo from Semi-Arid Land- Surface Atmosphere Program, http://tuscon.ars.ag.gov/salsa/salsahome.html. 8. Lake Champlain Basin Map. Base map from Lake Champlain Basin Program, www.lcbp.org. ABSTRACT Following natural boundaries rather than political borders, many resource management problems have been complicated by a lack of coordination between the policies and practices of different jurisdictions. This disconnect magnifies the importance of collaboration among stakeholders on both sides of the divides that have compartmentalized them. However, effective collaborative resource management is not easily achieved, and when the ecosystem in question spans an international border, complications are exacerbated. The legal, social, and economic differences that can exist between nations add layers of complexity to the challenges that any collaborative effort faces. Despite these obstacles, transboundary ecosystem stewardship is occurring in an international context. This study highlights the experiences of eight such efforts operating across either the U.S.-Canada or U.S.-Mexico borders. Among other things, these cases illustrate the primary importance of an organized collaborative process and strategic stakeholder involvement in affecting positive ecological outcomes. In addition, they indicate that international treaties are not the only means of achieving transboundary ecosystem management. In fact, the case studies convey that varying levels of government endorsement, coupled with a range of organizational structures and activities, can be effective in encouraging the shared stewardship of cross-border resources. They also indicate that transboundary ecosystem management efforts need not have authoritative decision-making power in order to affect real ecological outcomes. Instead, the recommendations they can provide by working within existing legal frameworks are often adopted in policy. In summary, the case studies developed under the umbrella of this research project reveal webs of conservation activities occurring throughout many transboundary ecosystems. The lessons distilled from the eight collective efforts outlined in this report have general applicability but have also been targeted at addressing the transboundary ecosystem management challenge facing practitioners in the Flathead River Basin of southeastern British Columbia and northwestern Montana. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE TRANSBOUNDARY DILEMMA In the face of natural resource problems that are becoming more politically, legally and ecologically complex, many communities are finding it necessary to take a broader look at their natural resource base and consider the full range of ecosystem processes that provide and sustain those resources. This more holistic, expanded view of ecosystem management often requires more coordination between different agencies, stakeholders or governments who must work across jurisdictional boundaries. Running counter to many of our traditional paradigms of natural resource management, community, and government, this approach must overcome numerous barriers to effective stewardship. When the jurisdictional boundaries that separate a natural resource system comprises an international border, those barriers are ever more profound. The Flathead Basin of northwestern Montana, U.S., and southeastern British Columbia, Canada, provides an interesting example of this shared resource dilemma. The Flathead Basin is recognized to be a critical component of the greater “Crown of the Continent” ecosystem, harboring pristine ecosystem conditions that provide habitat for numerous wildlife species. Threats such as private development in the U.S., and industrial logging and mining in Canada increasingly threaten the processes and habitat connectivity that sustain this ecosystem. In recent years, stakeholders on both sides of the border have been working to protect this transboundary ecosystem, but have been struggling to develop a collaborative process that can overcome those barriers to transboundary resource management. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to look at how collaborative resource management is different when an international border is involved, and then evaluate existing efforts that are dealing with transboundary resource issues. With a greater understanding of existing transboundary efforts, we drew lessons from those efforts that would be useful to stakeholders in the Flathead Basin and other areas that are facing transboundary resource issues. The following overarching questions drove this study: · How is the management of natural resources across international borders similar to and different from cases that involve domestic ecosystem management? i Executive Summary · Recognizing that collaboration is essential to ecosystem management, how is collaboration across international borders different from and similar to collaboration within a single nation? By developing and analyzing case studies of existing collaborative transboundary efforts, we were able to draw several lessons about their structure and dynamics. Our case study analysis has focused on some of the following elements of these transboundary programs and efforts: How they were initiated, how they are structured, how they gain legal and institutional legitimacy, what barriers they have come across, and how they have been able to overcome some of those barriers. This analysis has given us a cross-section of experiences that can be useful to professionals and citizens in the Flathead basin, and elsewhere who are working to better manage their natural resources across an international border. CASE STUDIES After gaining a cursory understanding of the situation in the Flathead basin, we identified and researched over 22 areas along the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders where transboundary resource management efforts were in place. After evaluating those candidate cases we selected eight of these case studies for in-depth analysis. The case studies that were selected demonstrated a broad range of experiences and approaches to transboundary collaboration. The case studies represent a broad range Case Studies of institutional and programmatic approaches to transboundary · International Sonoran Desert Alliance collaboration. Two of the case studies, Arizona, U.S. & Sonora, Mexico the Red River Basin Board and the · Gulf of Maine ManOMin watershed demonstrate Maine, U.S. & New Brunswick, Canada · Upper San Pedro River Basin programs that are nested under the Arizona, U.S. & Sonora, Mexico binational authority of the International · Lake Champlain Basin Program Joint Commission (IJC). In the Red River New York and Vermont, U.S. & Quebec, Basin example, the IJC had facilitated Canada cooperative efforts to manage water flows · ManOMin Watershed Minnesota, U.S. & Manitoba and Ontario, in the Red River. However, in response Canada to increasing frustration with the IJC’s · Okanagan River Basin inability to respond to local issues, local Washington, U.S. & British Columbia, stakeholders spearheaded an international, Canada grassroots effort called the Red River · Puget Sound – Georgia Basin Basin Board. This case illustrates the International Task Force Washington, U.S. & British Columbia, strength that such a forum can bring to a Canada transboundary collaborative effort by · Red River Basin Board empowering the participation of local Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota stakeholders to deal with local concerns. U.S. & Manitoba, Canada ii Executive Summary In the ManOMin watershed, the U.S. and Canadian governments have cooperatively managed these boundary waters under the authority of the IJC since the 1920’s. In recent years, several other interrelated collaborative efforts, including one spearheaded by a First Nation, have arisen to improve the stewardship of this transboundary ecosystem. This case illustrates how the development of communication channels between stakeholders and jurisdictions can help expand resource management efforts to consider the entire ecosystem. In the absence of an international authority like the IJC to provide a foundation for transboundary collaboration, several cases demonstrated the effectiveness of a formal organizational structure and non-binding international agreements. With a highly formal organizational structure and a diverse base of stakeholders, the Gulf of Maine Council has provided a central focus for coordinating the management of the region’s economic and ecological resource base. As a long-standing transboundary organization, the Council has been effective in improving cross-border communication.