ROSENBERG INTERNATIONAL FORUM: THE MACKENZIE RIVER BASIN JUNE 2013 REPORT OF THE ROSENBERG INTERNATIONAL FORUM’S WORKSHOP ON TRANSBOUNDARY RELATIONS IN THE MACKENZIE RIVER BASIN The Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy On Behalf of The Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation ROSENBERG INTERNATIONAL FORUM: THE MACKENZIE RIVER BASIN June 2013 REPORT OF THE ROSENBERG INTERNATIONAL FORUM’S WORKSHOP ON TRANSBOUNDARY RELATIONS IN THE MACKENZIE RIVER BASIN 4 Rosenberg International Forum The MACKENZIE RIVER BASIN The Mackenzie River Basin 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE EXISTING SCIENCE & SUMMARY SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: 06 22 WORRISOME SIGNALS AND TRENDS INTRODUCTION CANADA’s COLD 07 AMAZON: 27 THE MACKENZIE THE STRUCTURE SYSTEM AS A UNIQUE & OBJECTIVES OF GLOBAL RESOURCE 08 THE FORUM NEW KNOWLEDGE SETTING NEEDED THE STAGE: 29 10 THE MACKENZIE SYSTEM MANAGING THE MACKENZIE THE MACKENZIE 30 SYSTEM: 18 THE EFFECTS CONCLUSIONS OF COLD ON HYDRO-CLIMATIC 35 CONDITIONS 38 REFERENCES 6 Rosenberg International Forum EXECUTIVE SUMMARY he Mackenzie River is the largest north- between the freshwater flows of the Mackenzie governance structure for the Basin. flowing river in North America. It is the and Arctic Ocean circulation. These are One major recommendation is that the longest river in Canada and it drains a thought to contribute in important ways to the Mackenzie River Basin Board (MRBB), T watershed that occupies nearly 20 per stabilization of the regional and global climate. originally created by the Master Agreement, be cent of the country. The river is big and complex. In this respect, the Mackenzie River Basin must reinvigorated as an independent body charged It is also jurisdictionally intricate with tributary be viewed as part of the global commons. The with managing and protecting the Basin. rivers running through three provinces – British challenge of protecting the Basin and conserving Additional personnel, including representatives Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan – two its resources and environmental services is from indigenous communities, will be required territories – Yukon and the Northwest Territories further complicated by its status as a commons, to sharply increase funding support and a – and areas which fall under the jurisdiction of and by the need to recognize stakeholders capacity for creating policy based on the best numerous independent indigenous governments. who are not residents. The problems of the available science. Bilateral agreements among Large tributary rivers, the Liard, Peace and commons cannot be successfully addressed the governments represented in the Basin may Athabasca drain much of north central Alberta unless the population of the Basin and the be helpful in some instances, but they must be and parts of the Rocky Mountains in northern constituent governments forthrightly assume the consistent with the provisions of the overarching British Columbia. The Peace and Athabasca Rivers responsibilities of its stewardship. Master Agreement. flow to Lake Athabasca, which is drained by the The Mackenzie River has not been studied as The MRBB must devise governance and Slave River, the primary feeder to Great Slave extensively as other major rivers of the world. management schemes that are comprehensive and Lake. The Mackenzie River itself flows from Great The scarceness of major studies conducted in holistic. Piecemeal and/or fragmented approaches Slave Lake to the Arctic and lies wholly within the the 1970s means that the working knowledge are unlikely to be successful. Management Northwest Territories. of the Mackenzie is relatively minute. Efforts regimes must also be adaptive because there is The Mackenzie River Basin is among the most to protect and preserve the Mackenzie, and much scientific uncertainty about many of the intact large-scale ecosystems in North America. It develop its resources in a balanced way, will Basin’s natural features. Thus, programs that allow provides significant breeding habitat for migratory require both the full use of all existing science learning from experience and adjust management birds and aquatic habitat. Sixty-three per cent of and the need for additional study. The primary regimes to account for such learning, will be the Basin is covered by boreal forest, with another need is for a perpetual, robust and well- essential. Scientific uncertainty can be addressed 20 per cent covered by wetlands. While the Basin funded comprehensive monitoring program. more directly by supporting the aforementioned is relatively undisturbed ecologically, it is at risk Responsibility for the conduct of this program monitoring program and by application of the both from a warming climate and development should be vested in the Government of Canada. “precautionary principle.” This principle holds pressures from the exploitation of hydrocarbons, There are other questions about hydrological, that the absence of full scientific certainty is non-renewable minerals and hydroelectric chemical and biological aquatic regimes in the not a valid reason for delaying or postponing potential. These large forces of change threaten Basin that deserve high priority on the research measures that would avoid serious or irreversible the ecological integrity of the Basin, its capacity agenda. Similarly, there are important questions environmental damage. to provide important environmental services, and in the domains of the social science that should The MRBB should be supported by an its role as homeland to Aboriginal Peoples who be accorded high priority on the research independent International Science Advisory rely on the land and its resources to provide food, agenda. Committee. The role of this Committee should be clothing, water and other necessities of life. The Basin’s governance is complicated to ensure that the best possible science is used, The Mackenzie River Basin is a unique global by jurisdictional fragmentation. The need to and to develop and prioritize research agendas resource. It provides benefits not only to residents, address this problem arose in the 1990s with to create new scientific information needed but to populations across Canada, throughout the development of the Mackenzie River Basin to guide the MRBB in other appropriate ways. the Western Hemisphere, and to some extent, Transboundary Waters Master Agreement of 1997. Indigenous peoples should be represented on the the world over. The Basin contains globally The Master Agreement required multi-party Committee. Additionally, educational programs important natural resources. The Mackenzie collaboration and co-operation in managing the should be established to educate the region’s Estuary harbours extraordinary biodiversity and land and water resources of the Basin. There residents, as well as the larger world, about the its biological productivity is enormous when has been little effective follow-through on this Mackenzie River Basin. Such a program should compared to other ecosystems in the region. Master Agreement. This report includes a careful also offer training to indigenous peoples to The Mackenzie Delta and other boreal areas consideration of the obstacles to governance allow them to have major roles in programs that absorb carbon dioxide. There is a clear link and offers recommendations for an appropriate manage and protect the Basin. The Mackenzie River Basin 7 It is important to recognize that traditional the development of scientific capacity. balanced management policies? 2) What knowledge should be fully utilized as part of the The activities of the Board should be fully rates of economic growth are appropriate for scientific base upon which policies and plans for transparent and broadly communicated. Input the Basin and its distinctive regions? 3) How the Basin will be based. Traditional knowledge should be sought from all classes of stakeholder should extractive industries and hydroelectric forms a continuum with Western scientific and there should be full sharing of scientific developments be regulated? knowledge and the two are complementary and information that explicitly includes a thorough The report includes a strong recommendation not mutually exclusive. A number of cultures examination of research outcomes that some that extractive industries be required to post throughout the world have applied traditional interests may not like. a significant performance bond before site knowledge to the management of environmental There are also value questions and development and operations commence. This changes of precisely the sort that are anticipated judgments which must be addressed in the ensures that clean-up costs and mitigation here. The traditional knowledge of the Basin’s making of policies and plans for the Basin. following closure of the site are fully paid by the indigenous residents should be sought out and While science alone cannot fully inform such industry itself. Failure to require a significant utilized to the fullest extent possible. Funding to judgments, that is not an excuse for ignoring performance bond or some similar incentive support participation of indigenous peoples and the need to make the judgments forthrightly almost surely means that the legacy of despoiled the use of traditional knowledge should be made and transparently. Examples of the questions environments, toxic wastes and other waste will available in generous amounts. that should be addressed are: 1) How should continue unabated, and that taxpayers will be left Enhancing knowledge and communication the values and