From supranational to intertribal - Governing Transboundary Waters: Canada, the United States, and Indigenous Communities - page 45

Table 3.1 Cooperation mechanisms for transboundary water governance

Governing mechanism Scale Function

International Joint - Binational - Quasi-judicial; reviews applications for

Commission - Federal projects and grants or withholds approval

- Canada-U.S. - Advisory role, non-binding

- Operates through Reference process
- “Prevent and resolve transboundary
environmental and water-resource disputes
. . . through processes that seek the
common interest of both countries”

NAFTA Commission - Tri-national - Advisory role, non-binding

for Environmental - Federal - Helps prevent potential trade and

Cooperation - Canada-U.S.- environmental conflicts

Mexico - Promotes the effective enforcement of

environmental law, all as part of its
mandate under the North American
Agreement on Environmental Cooperation

Intertribal - Multinational - Ranges from non-binding to treaty-based

- Culturally-based; wider interpretation of
“water issues” to include human and
ecosystem protection; cultural revitalization
and decolonizing methodologies

Environmental - Binational - Advisory role, non-binding

Cooperation - State-provincial - “Help mitigate and address environmental

Councils issues of mutual concern”

ENGO/Citizen - Binational and - Participatory

Groups domestic - Action-oriented

- Local - Non-binding, non-regulatory

- Watershed - “Consensus based negotiations, and

implementation of policies through local
voluntary efforts”

The Boundary Waters Treaty (1909): a success?
On 11 January 1910, in Washington, DC, the United States Secretary of State,
Elihu Root, and the United Kingdom's (His Majesty's) Ambassador to the United
States, James Bryce, signed the Treaty between the United States and Great Britain
relating to Boundary Waters, and Questions arising between the United States and Canada
- more commonly known as the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 (BWT). The
BWT represents the culmination of years of diplomatic negotiations to ensure
“friendly relations” between Canada and the United States and increased public
pressure to address growing transboundary water issues.
The main water-related issues facing Canada and the United States during the
Treaty's negotiation were: navigation, hydroelectric power generation, allocation
of boundary waters for industrial and agricultural uses, and pollution. (It is important