Proposal documents >

Adaptive management program

Adaptive management is a formal process for continually improving management policy and practices by learning from their outcomes. Regulators and the public need to know whether modeled benefits and impacts are occurring over time and, if not, what changes or corrections should be made in the long run.

The success of the adaptive management program recommended by the International Joint Commission (the Commission) will depend largely on funding and on participation from sources other than the Commission. In this regard, the governments of Canada and the United States have indicated their strong support for monitoring and adaptive management as an ongoing activity connected with future water level and flow regulation, and both governments will actively participate in the further development of an adaptive management plan for implementation.

This diagram shows key components of the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River adaptive management program.

Plan - The study examined in detail environmental and economic benefits and impacts of regulation. Subsequent work led to the proposed new Order of Approval and Plan 2007.

Act/Implement - During the period when a new regulation plan is implemented, cause-and-effect relationships associated with water management will be further evaluated within 15-years for key performance indicators.

Monitor and Evaluate - A monitoring, assessment, and model-refinement strategy is included as part of the adaptive management program. It may take decades to demonstrate potential cause-and-effect relationships associated with flow regulation because some impacts take a long time to occur and because some impacts only occur during rare high or low water levels.

Collaborative Group Learning - Public involvement would take place annually, and adaptive management workshops would take place every five years associated with refining the adaptive management program. A reevaluation of the regulation plan would take place within 15 years based on science-based information collected over this time period.

Adjust - After reevaluation, the Commission may amend the regulation plan as it deems appropriate. For example, if the monitoring, assessment, and model refinements show that the response of wetland meadow marsh and lake shoreline maintenance are substantially different from the study results, the Commission could further refine the models and the appropriate regulation rules to reflect the improved understanding.

This is a summary of a background paper. The full text is available at http://www.ijc.org/LOSLdocuments/pdf/
LOSL_background_adapt_mgmt_e.pdf or by contacting the Commission.

Last update: