A discussion paper released by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Water Forum (GWF) calls for examining cultural politics to improve transboundary water governance.
The paper highlights the case of the Coast Salish Aboriginal Council, a governing body of 70 tribes on the US-Canadan border.
The Council aims to present a unified indigenous voice on environmental issues, including the recovery of anadromous salmon stocks.
6 November 2012: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Water Forum (GWF) has released a discussion paper on rescaling transboundary environmental governance by and for indigenous communities. The paper presents the case of the Coast Salish Aboriginal Council.
The paper, titled “Indigenous Space, Citizenry, and the Cultural Politics of Transboundary Water Governance” and authored by Emma Norman, Michigan Technological University, indicates that the Council is a governing body covering 70 tribes spanning the US-Canadan border to present an unified indigenous voice on complex transboundary environmental issues, including management and protection of transboundary water resources.
The paper outlines some of the outcomes of the creation of the Council, including pairing with federal agencies to collect water quality data, and presenting a unified voice on issues such as management of anadromous salmon. It stresses that one of the central goals of the Council, to restore salmon fisheries, remains challenging due to climate change, over-fishing and habitat degradation in river basins. The discussion paper emphasizes the importance of deliberately including indigenous communities in transboundary environmental governance and calls for investigating cultural politics in border areas to mobilize administrative structures in a more nuanced way. [Publication: Indigenous Space, Citizenry, and the Cultural Politics of Transboundary Water Governance]