From a Participative Framework to Communities' Realities: The Challenges of Implementing Stakeholder Involvement in Quebec Watershed Management, Canada

Ever since the beginning of the 1970s, the province of Quebec has fostered a social and political debate over water management. This debate intensified during the 1990s and led to the adoption in 2002 of the Quebec Water Policy (QWP). This policy has five intentions:

to reform water governance;

to implement an integrated water resource management;

to preserve water quality and ecosystems;

to continue the decontamination of wastewater;

to support the practice of water-related tourist activities (Quebec, 2002).