Publications

IJC publications contain both board and corporate documents, including reports, fact sheets, infographics, and presentations. Contractor reports are created on behalf of or in coordination with the IJC or its boards by a separate entity, including individuals, companies, and governments. Government reports are documents developed by US or Canadian local/provincial/state/federal government that are of interest to the IJC or board.

IJC Content

Displaying 1 - 17 of 17.

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The Great Lakes support economic activities, provide food and other resources, regulate natural processes, and offer recreational and cultural experiences. Values of ecosystem services with established commercial markets, including commercial fishing, tourism, and agriculture, are relatively well...
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The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement charges the International Joint Commission, supported by its Great Lakes advisory boards, with several responsibilities including identification of emerging issues facing the Great Lakes. To help fulfill this responsibility the IJC’s Great Lakes Science...
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Microbial water quality concerns, both historic and emerging, impact human health throughout the Great Lakes region. The IJC’s Health Professionals Advisory Board, which provides advice to the IJC and its Boards, is working towards a comprehensive microbial source water quality assessment in part to...
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This report looks at efforts to manage nutrients in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario by assessing federal, state and provincial Domestic Action Plans and their implementation, reviewing eight previous IJC reports on nutrient management, and assessing the extent to which key IJC recommendations have been...
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The Great Lakes Science Strategy for the Next Decade (the Science Strategy) summarizes the science gaps and related resource needs identified by hundreds of knowledge-holders convened by the International Joint Commission (IJC). This Summary Report provides an overview of the project and integrates...
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In January 2019, the Committee published its 2018 phase one report that recommended the development of a Great Lakes groundwater and surface water conceptual framework. The latest report from the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board-Research Coordination Committee describes the scientific, technical...
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The Health Professionals Advisory Board conducted a proof-of-concept pilot study to assess whether it is feasible to collect comparable, binational water quality and population health data for locations around the Great Lakes, and whether such data could be used to generate conclusions and examine...
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In keeping with its role to monitor the health of the St. Croix river aquatic ecosystem, the International St. Croix River Watershed Board has released a study exploring opportunities and constraints for improved fish passage for the lower stretches of the St. Croix River.
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In 1913, a ground-breaking IJC monitoring study linked untreated sewage pollution to widespread disease in the Great Lakes. One hundred years later, the question remains whether nearshore fecal bacterial/microbial water quality is getting better or worse. While technology to prevent and track this...
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An environmental stressor is any factor whose presence adversely affects individuals, populations, or ecosystems. Often but not necessarily the result of human activities, examples include many different pollutants, excess nutrients, habitat loss and invasive species. Recognizing that interactions...
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2020 Report In June 2020, the International Joint Commission’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) completed a report entitled Understanding Declining Productivity in the Offshore Regions of the Great Lakes. The report includes a number of findings and a recommendation aimed at improving coordination...
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Annex 10 (Science) of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement assigns the International Joint Commission (IJC) and its Science Advisory Board (SAB) a role in providing input to the Parties on priority science issues on a three year basis. The Parties’ initial Draft Priorities for Science and Action...
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The IJC’s Health Professional Advisory Board (HPAB) was created to provide advice to the Commission and its Boards about current and emergent clinical and public health issues in the area of environmental health. The HPAB will be responsive to requests from the IJC and other Boards and stakeholders...
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The International Joint Commission’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) Science Priority Committee undertook a synthesis of the science related to observed and potential impacts of crude oil on Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem condition and identified additional research, monitoring and information...
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The purpose of this project was to assess the flow of information to decision makers in the Great Lakes, identify barriers to the flow of this information, and provide recommendations to the IJC and the Parties to address these barriers.
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This document summarizes the SAB’s advice to the Parties on their Draft 2017-2019 Binational Priorities for Science. This advice benefited from input provided by the IJC’s Great Lakes Water Quality Board. General comments that apply to all Agreement Annexes are presented first, followed by general...