Water Law as a Watershed Endeavour: Federal Inactivity as an Opportunity for Local Initiative
Date
2015
Authors
Curran, Deborah
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Environmental Law and Practice
Abstract
While the federal government has steadily lightened its regulatory role over aspects of federal jurisdiction that influence provincial water management, this jurisdictional space has provided opportunities for sub-national arrangements that address environmental protection. First Nations, provincial and local governments are creating collaborative ecosystem-based management regulations and initiatives that respond to the ecological governance imperatives of planning at a watershed scale, protecting environmental flows, linking decisions about land and water, and adaptive management. Ecological monitoring, watershed-scale planning, decision-making resulting from treaties, protection of riparian areas and watersheds, and water law reform in the west all feature prominently in these sub-national approaches. Any federal action in the future that affects water will be challenged to support these appropriately scaled regulations and decision-making.
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Citation
Curran, D. (2015). Water law as a watershed endeavour: Federal inactivity as an opportunity for local initiative. Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, 28, 53-88.