Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | Michigan Academician

Political Science.

Article Excerpt
Accountability in the Lake Huron Basin: the International Joint Commission Perspective. Bryan W. Coyer, Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, MI 48128

The Lake Huron water basin is comprised of the second largest Great Lake, the fifth largest freshwater lake in the world with the longest shoreline of the Great Lakes, and river tributary systems surrounding Sudbury to Sarnia on the Canadian side and Flint to Mackinac in the United States. Management of this vast forested, scenically beautiful region, so dependent on natural resources, is prescribed by the sovereign jurisdictions of the United States, Canada and their semi sovereign federal regions, Michigan and Ontario, plus numerous sub-regional governments, including counties, cities, municipalities and other special districts. Both the United States and Canada have long recognized their mutual interest in managing this region, as reflected in the Boundary Water Treaty and the establishing and functioning of International Joint Commission. However, neither the U.S. nor Canada, nor their regional governments, has devolved substantial authority for Lake Huron public policy to the IJC. "Successful" maintenance and balanced economic development in this region may require an alteration of accountability mechanisms now in place to permit regional authority to make public policy. This paper outlines first the general problem of accountability in the management of cross-boundary resources, citing several international examples including the relative success...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!