The Importance of the Great Lakes

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When discussing issues relating to bodies of water, there is always something to be considered and those are issues that deal with water, which are not as simple as it seem. To the point persons, communities, nation states, and international organizations has the implicit means to provide a thoughtful and significant plan that would provide a solution to the intended issue. The right approach in taking those necessary steps are achieving a well thought out plan is the ability to adhere collective decisions and cooperative actions. This would be considered essential when dealing with large bodies of water like the Great Lakes which cross boundaries with two different countries The United States and Canada. To which the basin for the Great lakes are home to 40 million people, which can be further accounted to 1/10th of the population of the United States and one-quarter of the population of Canada, which is split into five lakes and their watersheds spanning more than 1200 km which includes two provinces and eight US states. So it is obvious to say how impactful it is for economic behaviour in both countries, as does transportation, power, and recreation, to the point that it can be safe to say many of the planets largest industrial activities can be exclusively located there. So issues like environmental causes can in fact lead to definite massive crisis, for that stakeholders use any means possible to provide the best for this region. The stakeholders that are involved are at the local level which is mostly focused on watersheds to prevent, asses, and improve water quality issues. At this level the non-governmental stakeholders are local citizens, industrial and agricultural users, local environmental groups, etc. While government...

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...akes water levels to future climate scenarios with an emphasis on lake michigan-huron. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 36, 51-58. doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2009.09.006
 Anonymous. FACTOIDS: The Great Lakes provide. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 2004;59:87A
 Anonymous, . (2009, February 25). The Great Lakes at a Crossroads Preparing for a Changing Climate. Inhttp://wupcenter.mtu.edu/education/Global_Climate_Change/fact_sheet/IAGLRCrossroads_Climate_ChangeV2.pdf. Retrieved October 30, 2013
 Johns, C. in Environmental Challenges and Opportunities: Local-Global Perspectives on Canadian Issues. pg. 95-124.
 Millerd, F. (2005). The economic impact of climate change on canadian commercial navigation on the great lakes. Canadian Water Resources Journal, 30(4), 269.
 Scott Fields. (2005, ). Great lakes: Resources at risk. Environmental Health Perspectives, pp. A164.

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