The Fraser River Action Plan


Book Description

The federal government and its partners in this Plan made significant progress in the field and continued to gather vital information to ensure long-term sustainability in the Fraser River basin and improve fish and wildlife stocks and their habitat. This report covers activities in the areas of partnerships (Fraser Basin management Program, Burrard Inlet Environmental Action Program, Fraser River Estuary Management Program, First Nations participation, and communications), cleaning up pollution (pollution abatement, water and environmental quality, and compliance or enforcement), and restoring the productivity of the natural environment (salmon habitat rehabilitation, the science base, fish habitat management planning and restoration, and wildlife habitat restoration). An outlook for the next year and financial report conclude the document.




Integrated River Basin Management through Decentralization


Book Description

Drawing upon a worldwide survey of river basin organizations and in-depth studies of eight river basins in a variety of locations around the globe, this book examines how institutional arrangements for managing water resources at the river-basin level have been designed and implemented, the impetus for these arrangements, and what institutional features appear to be associated with greater or lesser success in river basin management.




Rivers of North America


Book Description

AWARDS:2006 Outstanding Academic Title, by CHOICEThe 2005 Award for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Best Reference 2005, by the Library JournalRivers of North America is an important reference for scientists, ecologists, and students studying rivers and their ecosystems. It brings together information from several regional specialists on the major river basins of North America, presented in a large-format, full-color book. The introduction covers general aspects of geology, hydrology, ecology and human impacts on rivers. This is followed by 22 chapters on the major river basins. Each chapter begins with a full-page color photograph and includes several additional photographs within the text. These chapters feature three to five rivers of the basin/region, and cover several other rivers with one-page summaries. Rivers selected for coverage include the largest, the most natural, and the most affected by human impact. This one-of-a-kind resource is professionally illustrated with maps and color photographs of the key river basins. Readers can compare one river system to another in terms of its physiography, hydrology, ecology, biodiversity, and human impacts.* Extensive treatment provides a single source of information for North America's major rivers* Regional specialists provide authoritative information on more than 200 rivers* Full-color photographs and topographical maps demonstrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system* One-page summaries help readers quickly find key statistics and make comparisons among rivers




Bioassessment of Freshwater Ecosystems


Book Description

Quantifying the effect(s) of human-induced changes on aquatic ecosystems is a fundamental objective in ecological assessment, and one that often requires the use of a reference condition. Because of the widespread degradation of many aquatic ecosystems, finding pristine or even minimally disturbed reference sites can be a challenging (read frustrating) and costly endeavour. This book gives a comprehensive description of present-day concepts and practices in working with the use of references in quantifying departures from conditions expected with no or only minimal anthropogenic effects.







Information Report


Book Description




Handbook of Techniques for Aquatic Sediments Sampling


Book Description

This up-to-date revision of a bestseller sets the standard for planning and implementing cost-effective sediment sampling programs. Handbook of Techniques for Aquatic Sediments Sampling, Second Edition is the only comprehensive text on procedures for sampling bottom sediments, suspended sediments, and sediment pore water. Practical guidance is also provided for sample handling and preservation to ensure accurate physicochemical analysis. No other reference source provides more tools for obtaining representative samples for evaluating potential contaminant effects on aquatic environments.




Unnatural Law


Book Description

While governments assert that Canada is a world leader in sustainability, Unnatural Law provides extensive evidence to refute this claim. A comprehensive assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Canadian environmental law, the book provides a balanced, critical examination of Canada's record, focusing on laws and policies intended to protect water, air, land, and biodiversity. Three decades of environmental laws have produced progress in a number of important areas, such as ozone depletion, protected areas, and some kinds of air and water pollution. However, Canada's overall record remains poor. In this vital and timely study, David Boyd explores the reasons why some laws and policies foster progress while others fail. He ultimately concludes that the root cause of environmental degradation in industrialized nations is excessive consumption of resources. Unnatural Law outlines the innovative changes in laws and policies that Canada must implement in order to respond to the ecological imperative of living within the Earth's limits. The struggle for a sustainable future is one of the most daunting challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. Everyone - academics, lawyers, students, policy-makers, and concerned citizens - interested in the health of the Canadian and global environments will find Unnatural Law an invaluable source of information and insight. For more information on Unnatural Law visit David Boyd's site, www.unnaturallaw.com.




Water Resources of North America


Book Description

Leonardo da Vinci, the eminent Renaissance scholar and philosopher said, "water is the driver of nature". Many may have considered it to be an overstatement in the past, but at the beginning of the third millennium, no sane individual would disagree with Leonardo's view. Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource for most of the world's citizens. The current trends indicate that the overall situation is likely to deteriorate further, at least for the next two decades, unless the water profession eschews its existing "business as usual" practices, which can only allow incremental changes to occur. Somewhat surprisingly, the water profession as a whole neither realised nor appreciated the gravity of the global water situation as late as 1990, even though a few serious scholars have been pointing out the increasing criticality of the situation from around 1982. For example, the seriousness of the crisis was not a major issue, either at the International Conference on W ater and the Environment, which was organised by the UN system in Dublin and also at the UN Conference on Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro. Held in 1992, both are considered to be important events for the water sector of the past decade. It is now being increasingly recognised that the Dublin Conference was poorly planned and organised, and thus not surprisingly it produced very little, if any, worthwhile and lasting results.