• Indicators Will Help to Evaluate Progress
• Work Group Sets Targets and Indicators for Lake Superior
• Estimating the state of Great Lakes Basin Habitats
• Industry Focuses on Quality-Based Management
• Research Program Sharpens Focus on Human Health Issues
• Helen B. Daly
• Good or Bad: It's Not the Science, But the Use of Science
• Beluga: A Farewell to Whales
• Les Bélugas ou l'Adieu aux baleines

Columns

• Briefs
• Perspective
• Bookshelf
• RapSheet
• Events

How will future activities under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement change? This issue of Focus looks at some of the insights gained at the Biennial Meeting on Great Lakes Water quality that took place last September. After years of debate, the Governments of Canada and the United States are working together to achieve one of the Agreement's main purposes and put in to place a binational industry to further pollution prevention and have formed partnerships with innovative companies such as Avenor. And they have embraced a broader agenda and recognized the need to purse it at the national and global levels.

Meanwhile, communities such as the twin ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, and organizations such as Great Lakes United are pursuing a range of ambitious projects to demonstrate how zero discharge of persistent toxic substances can be achieved within specific sectors. Economic studies in five substances can be achieved within specific sectors. Economic studies in five Canadian Ares of Concern and communities Jonquiére, Quebec have also demonstrated that investments in restoration and sustainable practices can lead to short-term and long-term gains.

The ultimate results of these efforts, particularly as both countries struggle over government spending and regulation, still remain in question. However, the binational Great Lakes community is showing its resolve to move forward despite the enormous challenges.