ABSTRACT
In 1972, the Governments of Canada and United States created the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement which was signed by Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada and President Nixon of the United States (United States and Canada 1972). In November 22, 1978, a revision to the 1972 Agreement provided new programs directed predominantly towards “virtually eliminating inputs of persistent toxic substances to the Great Lakes” (United States and Canada 1978). The governments adopted the revolutionary concept of applying an ecosystem approach to enhancing and maintaining the health of the Great Lakes. By November 1987, dissatisfi ed with progress on Great Lakes revitalization, the Governments signed a Protocol to the 1978 GLWQA that included Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) under Annex 2 of the Agreement. The United States and Canada revision in 1987 of the GLWQA commits the countries, in collaboration with the states and provinces, to develop RAPs at Areas of Concern (42 in total at that time, Fig. 6.1) (United States and Canada 1987). A RAP is an approach that brings governments and concerned citizens together to restore and protect ‘benefi cial uses’ (14 of which are specifi ed in the Agreement). Importantly, the governments are to work and with local communities to jointly develop and implement the RAPs. Krantzberg (2003) and Gurtner-Zimmermann (1995), discuss the process for developing and implementing RAPs in greater detail.
