INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF THE GREAT LAKES-ST. LAWRENCE BASIN1

Neither Canada nor the United States attach much importance to the International Joint Commission (IJC) judging by the size of staffs and annual budgets. The Commission has been restricted to a relatively minor number of functions in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence. It has investigated: the degree and causes of water and air quality deterioration; the effects of hydroelectric and navigation projects on water levels; the impacts of water-level fluctuations; and the feasibility of a deep waterway from the St. Lawrence to the Hudson River. Projects approved by the Commission have produced less than might be expected through no fault of the Commission. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has promoted little international management. Budgetary limitations restrict its lamprey control program; institutional limitations restrict its ability to deal effectively with fishery problems. Commission responsibilities are limited to coordination and advisory functions. Since Canada and the United States have not chosen to refer most aspects of river basin management to international bodies, an institutional void exists in the Great Lakes Basin to consider these questions on a continuous basis. There is a need for expanded international cooperation.     

The himalayan musk deer: Encashed for extinction

Summary The author draws attention to the continuing illegal trade in musk. It is suggested that of the order of 30,000 musk deer are being killed annually and that this will lead to the ultimate extinction of the protected animal.Dr Oza is the General Secretary of the Indian Society of Naturalists (INSONA) and Founding Editor ofEnvironmental Awareness. He is also the Member of the Commission on Education, Commission on Ecology of the IUCN and Head of the Asian Antelopes sub-group of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of IUCN.     

Protecting the National Estate: Issues and practice in Australian Heritage Conservation

Summary The author presents a personal view of the role and functions of both the Australian Heritage Commission and the Australian Register of the National Estate. Operational problems are highlighted, and a critique of the Commission and difficulties encountered in working within both national and federal political confines, are outlined. In a decade, the Commission has achieved much towards the preservation of the Australian environment: important in the Commission's current activity is the task of explaining to the lay public precisely what heritage conservation entails and why it is an essential activity.Professor Bruce Davis has been, in the past, Chairman of the Australian Heritage Commission and the contents of this paper are based upon his delivery of an address at the inaugural conference of the Environment Institute of Australia, in Sydney, during November 1987. The views expressed are the personal opinion of the author and should not be construed as necessarily representing the policy of views of any institution with which the author may be connected.     

THE NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION REVISITED1

ABSTRACT: In 1973 the National Water Commission concluded its five-year study of national water policy by issuing a massive report containing over 200 recommendations for improvements in the way the Nation deals with its water resources. The Carter Administration is now engaged in another water policy review which incorporates many of the policies espoused by the National Water Commission. In this paper, presented at the 13th American Water Resources Conference in Tucson in November of 1977, the author describes the work of the National Water Commission and the actions taken on its recommendations.     

Revised Agri-environment Policy Objectives: Implications for Scheme Design

The new objectives for agri-environment policy recommended by the Policy Commission for the Future of Food and Farming are reviewed and proposals to achieve them are assessed. The Commission proposes a unified scheme, with a 'broad and shallow' tier that would incorporate a whole-farm environmental plan and audit. Participation at this level would be a prerequisite for entry into higher tiers focused on securing regional and national ecological, landscape and bio-diversity priorities. However, the Commission recognizes that further resource protection measures need to be developed to substantiate its design, particularly to enable the delivery of 'wider bio-diversity and landscape benefits'. Innovations in addition to those recommended by the Policy Commission are advocated here. These include adding Cultural options and a two-option Enhanced Level tier. The specifications of the first Enhanced Level option would be based on each farm's Sustainability Index Score. The second option would overcome the 'economics of configuration' problem by encouraging farmers to co-operate to deliver environmental outputs as members of 'environmental clubs'. The possibility of using web-based technology to increase the transparency of agri-environmental payments is also discussed. The design proposed here streamlines, simplifies and increases the efficiency of the existing agri-environment schemes.     

ALTERNATIVES FOR GROUND WATER LAW CHANGE IN ARIZONA1

ABSTRACT: Western state water resources are drawing increasing attention because of prolonged drought, pound-water overdraft and an ever-increasing awareness of insufficient Colorado River water to supply a growing population and meet industrial demand. Arizona is no exception, and the alarming decline in ground-water levels has prompted the Arizona State Legislature to adopt legislation establishing the Ground-Water Management Study Commission to recommend legislative action by 1979. This paper summarizes Arizona's ground water legislative history and discusses possible alternatives for change. The authors address specific issues facing the State and offer a set of possible Commission recommendations.     

The Consideration of Sustainability Aspects in Transport Infrastructure Related Policies,Plans and Programmes: A Comparative Analysis of North West England,Noord-Holland and Brandenburg-Berlin

This paper is based on research conducted in 1997 and 1998 at the EIA Centre, University of Manchester. It examines the extent to which transport infrastructure related policies, plans and programmes (PPPs) in the three EU regions of North West England, the provincie (administrativeregion) of Noord-Hollandand the engerer Verflechtungsraum (EVR, planning region) of Brandenburg-Berlinconsider (environmental) sustainability issues in the form of objectives, targets and related options/measures for action. Furthermore, the role strategic environmental assessment (SEA) appears to play in this context is elaborated. The analytical framework for comparison is based on the sustainable development strategy of the European Commission, the Fifth Action Programme (Commission of the European Communities, 1993).     

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES TO THE GARRISON DIVERSION UNIT1

ABSTRACT: The Garrison Diversion Unit is a multipurpose water resources project which is currently under development for the purpose of diverting water from the Missouri River basin to irrigate farmland in North Dakota. Due to the objections raised by various interest groups, the project has recently been reviewed by the International Joint Commission. This article surveys the background to the project and the various alternatives that have been proposed. By utilizing recently developed fuzzy set techniques, the proposed alternatives are evaluated and a plausible solution is proposed. The results of the study indicate that it may be advisable to remove the Souris Loop irrigation area from the Garrison project but the environmental impacts of the study may preclude the implementation of any alternative that can affect Canada. These findings are in partial agreement with the recommendations of the International Joint Commission.     

Taming B.C. Hydro: Site C and the implementation of the B.C. Utilities Commission Act

Public policy making in resources management is greatly influenced by the institutional arrangements that arise out of the legal powers, administrative structures, and financial provisions of the decision system. In British Columbia, the institutional arrangements for energy planning in the province have been greatly altered by the passage of the Utilities Commission Act in 1980. This act redefines the policy implementation process for energy in British Columbia and provides for the regulation of the province's power utility, B.C. Hydro. This is the first time that the hitherto autonomous utility has been subject to regulation and the Utilities Commission Act represents a major reform in the institutional arrangements for energy planning in the province. The article evaluates the effectiveness of the 1980 B.C. Utilities Commission Act and assesses the impact of the legislation upon the institutional arrangements for energy planning in the province. Data for the article were derived from written sources and a series of personal interviews with key participants involved with energy planning in B.C.It is shown that the act represented a major departure in the management of energy resources in B.C. Moreover the implementation of the act's provisions, particularly in regard to B.C. Hydro, had a dramatic impact on the development of new energy projects in the province. It is suggested that while the political and economic climate during the period also favored restraint, the major influence on taming the utility was passage of the Utilities Commission Act. The article concludes by exploring the implications of policy changes that have occurred as a consequence of the act's impact on B.C. Hydro.     

Ecological effects of the frog's legs trade

Summary The author reviews the trade in frogs from India, conducted to provide a culinary delicacy in frogs' legs for the West. Excessive harvesting of frogs upsets the ecological balance in their natural habitats and increases the need for extensive use of insecticides, with consequent additions to both pollution and costs.Dr G.M. Oza is Reader in Botany in the Faculty of Science at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He is also General Secretary of the International (formerly Indian) Society of Naturalists (INSONA), and Founding Editor ofEnvironmental Awareness. He serves as a Member of the Commission on Ecology and the Commission on Education and Training of IUCN — the World Conservation Union. This paper was first submitted for publication in 1986.     

A Spatial equilibrium perspective for planning the production of electrical energy

A spatial and temporal equilibrium model of production, consumption, prices, and transmission is constructed to determine the efficient pricing and allocation of electrical energy in the United States. Regional coordination is technically feasible and economically attractive. It also maximizes environmental efficiencies. The duplication of electrical generation and transmission facilities yields a misallocation of resources.The utilities put forth specific arguments against coordinated operations. Yet in a fully integrated power system, each region would be expected to maximize the benefits of time diversity by purchasing from outside the region in lieu of the expansion of regional capacity. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has not yet made a serious move to encourage regional coordination and planning, but the Commission has the authority to promote such operations if it chooses to do so.The author is an economist with the Department of Energy. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Energy or the views of other staff members.     

The Commission on Sustainable Development

Two years after Rio, the Commission on Sustainable Development is taking shape. The broad terms of its mandate allow for a policy discussion that brings new developments to the forefront and that may assist the world community in taking the road to sustainable development.     

Ecological mismanagement in natural disasters

The increasing intensity and frequency of human disasters is often related to ecological mismanagement and especially to that of vegetation through unwise clearing, burning and overgrazing. Corrective measures are generally feasible by instituting sound management but this must be based on good planning and be supported by adequate finance and a willingness to meet the social cost. This Commission on Ecology Paper originated in discussions between IUCN and the League of Red Cross Societies, to determine areas in which they could together work on environmental issues. Disaster Preparedness is a major programme area for Red Cross, although in the public's eye it is more often associated with post disaster relief. For IUCN, ecological mismanagement is a matter of prime concern. It is the hope of both organisations that this Paper will serve as an initial contribution towards those efforts which urgently need to be taken to prevent those disasters which are of man's and not nature's doing. That this task has been started is due to the contribution and efforts of Prof. Lindsay Pryor to whom we owe our gratitude for having made this Paper a reality. IUCN Commission on Ecology in cooperation with the Ligue of Red Cross Societies     

RIVER BASIN PLANNING: OBSERVATIONS FROM INTERNATIONAL AND CANADA-UNITED STATES EXPERIENCE

From a discussion of the main objectives of river basin planning, the author develops the elements needed to assure successful river basin planning at the multinational level. Functions of some existing international river basin commissions are described and a fourfold classification based on the degree of planning undertaken is proposed. The Canada—United States experience in river basin planning is placed in a historical framework and the political, legal and economic factors which influenced the operations of the Canada—US International Joint Commission are described. The central point about Canada—US experience appears to be that direct planning is less frequent than indirect “planning.” The two main functions of the Canada—US International Joint Commission are regulation on the one hand and dispute settlement on the other. Partant d'une discussion sur les principaux objectifs de la planification des bassins fluviaux, l'auteur analyse les éléments nécessaires à la planification efficace de ces bassins au niveau multinational. II décrit les fonctions de certaines commissions internationales de bassins fluviaux et propose une classification en quatre parties basée sur le degré de planification envisagé. L'auteur situe les travaux du Canada et des Etats-Unis en matière de planification de bassins fluviaux dans un contexte historique et analyse les facteurs politiques, juridiques et économiques qui influencent les activités de la Commission internationale mixte du Canada et des Etats-Unis. Le résultat principal des travaux de cette Commission semble être que la planification directe est plus rare que la planification indirecte. Les deux fonctions principales de la Commission sont la réglementation d'une part et le règlement de disputes de l'autre. Después de discutir los objetivos principales la Planificación de Cuencas Hidrográficas, el autor desarrolla los elementos necesarios para asegurar una planificación apropiada de cuencas a nivel multinacional. Se describen las funciones de algunas Comisiones de Cuencas Internacionales y se propone una clasificación basado en el grado de planificación emprendida. Se pone en un marco histórico la experiencia de Canadá y los Estados Unidos en materia de planficación de cuencas hydrográficas y se describen los factores politicos, legales y económicos que influenciaron las operaciones de la Comisión Conjunta Internacional Canadá-Estados Unidos. El punto central de la experiencia Canadá—Estados Unidos parece ser que la planificación directa es menos frecuente que la “planificación indirecta.” Las funciones principales de esta comisión son establecer regulaciones y dar solución a las disputas existentes.     

Desire to Bargain and Negotiation Success: Lessons About the Need to Negotiate from Six Hydropower Disputes

/ We investigated the notion that successful negotiations require that all parties to the dispute must have a desire to bargain. This desire is most likely to be present when the dispute exhibits ripeness and each party believes a bargained solution is the most cost-effective way to resolve differences. Structured interviews of participants in six Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hydropower licensing consultations were conducted to determine the level of need to negotiate for each party. The findings indicate that a need to negotiate is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for success. Several factors were associated with a need to negotiate: a weak BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement); a salient issue; participants' sense of efficacy; a sense of inevitability; professional roles encouraging negotiation; and disputes about facts as opposed to disputes about values. Participants' need to negotiate fluctuated throughout the process and intensified when questions were ripe: i.e., critical issues were debated or the regulatory process required action.KEY WORDS: Alternative dispute resolution; Federal licenses; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Instream flow; Environmental planning     

Consumer product safety: Risk assessment of exposure to asbestos emissions from hand-held hair dryers

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is concerned that consumer exposure to asbestos from consumer products may present an unreasonable risk of injury. Recently, CPSC has obtained agreement by industry to cease production and distribution of hair dryers containing asbestos heat insulation. CPSC intends to broaden its investigation by selecting consumer products containing asbestos for priority attention. The Commission does not intend to make quantitative estimates of cancer risks posed by exposure to asbestos fibers in making regulatory decisions. This position may lead to a serious waste of resources for the Commission, industry, and society. The Commission should focus its initial attention on those products for which the release of asbestos is significant enough to cause an unreasonable health risk. To make a risk assessment for a particular use of asbestos, CPSC must acquire or request data on asbestos emissions and define unreasonable risk to health.In an attempt to give some meaning to the phrase risk assessment, the primary goal of this paper is to present a detailed risk assessment of exposure to asbestos from hand-held hair dryers. Several scenarios of use are presented using various assumptions regarding time of operation, mixing of fibers in a small room, rate of fiber emission, and time of exposure. The worst case analysis of the health risk of exposure to hair dryer emissions is based on several conservative assumptions and shows that the increased number of deaths per year due to respiratory cancer is 4 for the entire United States population. A more representative case analysis shows the increased number of deaths to be on the order of 0.15 per year.     

Landscape Changes in the Mullica River Basin of the Pinelands National Reserve,New Jersey,USA

In 1979, the Pinelands Commission was established as a regional land-use planning and regulatory agency charged with the implementation of a Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) for the Pinelands National Reserve (New Jersey, USA). The CMP was created to balance land preservation and development interests in the Reserve. Because water-quality degradation from developed and agricultural landscapes is associated with changes in the composition of biological communities, monitoring landscape changes provides one of the most direct measures of the impact of land-use policies on the Pinelands ecosystem. In this study, we prepared detailed, land-cover maps within randomly selected aerial-photograph plots for a major watershed in the Reserve. We used these land-cover maps to quantify changes in landscape composition and structure (i.e., patch size, patch area, and number of patches) and characterize land-cover transitions in the basin between 1979 and 1991. Because the study period represented the first 12 years of the regional-planning effort in the Reserve, we evaluated the relationship between land-cover transitions and Commission management-area designations which permit different land-use intensities. Although the landscape composition was similar in 1979 and 1991, we found an increase in the total area and number of developed-land, managed-grassland, and barren-land patches. An increase in the number of patches and a decrease in the total area and median and third-quartile patch sizes for forest land and for all patches regardless of cover type indicated that fragmentation of forest land and the landscape as a whole occurred during the study period. The major land-cover transitions that occurred during the period were the loss of forest land to development and associated cover types and the conversion of one agricultural type to another. Overall, land-cover transitions during the period were found to be consistent with the Commission management-area designations, which indicated that the regional-planning effort has been successful in directing human activities to appropriate areas of the basin.     

Regional planning acceptance by residents of Northern New York,USA

This study compares the effectiveness of two regional planning agencies in terms of public support for various planning activities. The Adirondack Park Agency and the Temporary State Commission on Tug Hill have fundamentally different approaches to planning. The Adirondack Park Agency has implemented a restrictive regulatory program with little citizen participation by Adirondack residents. The Tug Hill Commission has implemented an advisory and coordinating program with an emphasis on public input. Residents of two towns in each region were surveyed to determine environmental concern and support for regional planning activities. Respondents from both regions favored a planning agency that incorporates citizen input; controls air, water, and toxic waste pollution; and develops recreation areas. They strongly opposed an agency that regulates private land-use. Basic demographic characteristics and levels of environmental concern were similar in all four towns, but receptivity to various planning activities was consistently greater among residents of the Tug Hill Region. Paired comparisons of the four towns demonstrated no differences between towns of the same region and significant differences between towns of different regions. Public support for regional planning is greater in the Tug Hill Region than in the Adirondack Park.     

THE WESTERN WATER COMMISSION: WATERSHED MANAGEMENT RECEIVES THE AVI'ENTION OF A NEW GENERATION1

ABSTRACT: Our nation periodically reviews national water policy and considers its directions for the future. The most recent examination was directed at the western United States and the role of the federal agencies in meeting its needs. The West is no longer the frontier, but rather contains vibrant cities and booming centers of international trade, as well as tourism, mineral, and oil and gas development, agricultural, and other development. In this changing environment, federal water policies need to consider the long term sustainability of the West, provide justice to Indian tribes, protect the rivers and ecosystems on which natural systems depend, balance the needs of newcomers with those of agricultural users and communities, and meet a myriad of other demands. The Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission has just concluded its review of these issues and issued its report. Key among the recommendations is the need to coordinate federal agencies at the basin and watershed level and make government more responsive to local needs, but within a framework that includes national mandates. The Commission's recommendations are presented here, along with some of the issues that surrounded the operations of the Commission.     

The draft articles on the law of international watercourses adopted by the International Law Commission: an overview and some remarks on selected issues

In 1994, after more than twenty years of work, the International Law Commission of the United Nations adopted a set of thirty-three draft articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. In the same year, the draft articles were submitted to the General Assembly with a view to the adoption of an international convention. The present paper analyzes and comments upon some of the major issues dealt with in the draft articles, devoting special attention to the substantive legal principles governing the utilization of international rivers and the protection of related ecosystems. Various questions still remain open for consideration by the Working Group convened by the General Assembly in 1996–1997 for the elaboration of a definitive convention. In spite of this, the draft articles adopted by the International Law Commission stand as an important achievement in the effort at codification of the law of international water resources. The present article was written within the framework of the research project "Technical aspects of the international law of the sea" which is being carried out at the Faculty of Law, University of Milan, Italy.