This thesis is concerned with the conceptual foundations of environmental law and
policy in the Great Lakes basin, the world's largest freshwater ecosystem. The Great Lakes
regime is now widely recognized as one of the most advanced international environmental
management regimes in existence. Over the past two decades, toxic contamination has
emerged as a highly pressing ecological issue in the Great Lakes basin. In Canada and the
United States, the ecosystem approach, a comprehensive and integrated approach to
environmental management, has been adopted both bilaterally and domestically in the Great
Lakes' complex environmental policy framework to guide the protection of ecological
integrity. There has been extensive discussion of the ecosystem approach, particularly from
scientific and managerial perspectives; however, the economic content of the concept has
been largely neglected, despite the importance of considering all relevant perspectives in the
development of law and policy.
This thesis is divided into five chapters. After discussing in Chapter 1 the ecological
and institutional contexts and methodological issues of the analysis, this thesis defends, in
Chapter 2, the view that economic theory has relevance to issues of environmental law and
policy. In addition to highlighting the main contours of welfare and environmental
economic theory, a main conclusion, and an essential premise upon which the analysis
proceeds, is that economics remains a useful analytical approach to environmental issues,
despite some important criticisms.
Subsequently, in Chapter 3, the analysis shifts to an examination of four bilateral and
domestic Great Lakes instruments that form the core of Great Lakes toxic pollution policy: (i) the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; (ii) the Great Lakes Binational Toxics
Strategy; (iii) the Canada-Ontario Agreement; and (iv) the Final Water Quality Guidance
for the Great Lakes System. After outlining key principles underpinning each instrument,
the thesis underscores common themes running through the collective policy framework.
The ecosystem approach constitutes a unifying concept in this framework.
The ecosystem approach is examined from an economic perspective in Chapter 4.
After identifying key elements of the ecosystem approach, this chapter highlights important
parallels between fundamental welfare and environmental economic notions. One main
conclusion is that economic concepts and approaches, such as environmental valuation,
externalities, and self-interest, form an integral part of the ecosystem approach.
Finally, Chapter 5 identifies some directions for further research. Given that, as the
thesis seeks to establish, economic theory constitutes an important, albeit not sole,
perspective on the ecosystem approach, a key challenge will be to facilitate interdisciplinary
analysis and cooperation leading to effective operationalization of the concept.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/9701 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Jutlah, Russell Sean |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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