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Regional Collaboration:
Great Lakes Declaration
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Regional Collaboration
Federal agencies, Great Lakes Governors, Great Lakes Mayors,
Great Lakes Tribes, and Members of the Great Lakes States
Congressional Delegation together have convened a collaboration
to restore and protect the Great Lakes ecosystem.
Current
Background
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The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration
brings together a federal Task Force, the Great Lakes
states, local communities, Tribes, regional bodies, and
other interests in the Great Lakes region to express their
support for the Declaration listed below.
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Great Lakes Declaration
Protecting and Restoring the Great Lakes through
a Regional Collaboration of National Significance
Download this Declaration
(PDF 1p, 8kb)
get Adobe Reader.
We, the Conveners of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, established
on December 3, 2004, in Chicago, Illinois, in acknowledgement of Executive
Order 13340 signed by President George W. Bush on May 18, 2004:
- Recognize that the Great Lakes are an international treasure which
contain about 20 percent of the earths fresh surface water, support
the culture and life ways of native communities, provide drinking water
to millions of people, and form the backbone for billions of dollars
in shipping, trade, fishing andrecreation;
- Recognize that the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, as
amended by protocol signed November 18, 1987, the Convention on Great
Lakes Fisheries of 1954, and other regional multi-jurisdictional agreements
with Canada, commit the United States and Canada to restore and maintain
the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Great Lakes ecosystem,
including the adoption ofcommon objectives and cooperative programs;
- Recognize that while there has been progress in restoring and improving
the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem, there are still tremendous
threats to the physical, biological and chemical integrity of the ecosystem;
- Note that citizens, as well as many federal, state, and local agencies,
Tribes, elected officials, and stakeholder groups, including the environmental
nongovernmental organizations, industry groups, and the agricultural
community, serve a vital role in protecting the Great Lakes ecosystem;
- Acknowledge that numerous multi-governmental and non-governmental
stakeholder networks have demonstrated a long history of effectively
collaborating on a variety of complex regional and local ecosystem protectionand
restoration efforts; and
- Affirm the need for leaders in the region, including Great Lakes
Governors, federal agency heads, Members of the Great Lakes Congressional
Delegation, Great Lakes mayors and Tribal leaders, building upon the
extensive regional efforts to date, to collaboratively work together
and with the Great Lakes community toward a common goal of protecting
and restoring the Great Lakesecosystem in order to address the new and
continuing challenges and ensure a healthy ecosystem for future generations.
Hereby, consistent with the laws applicable to our respective jurisdictions,
pledge our support for the development of a widely understood and broadly
supported strategy including actions to further protect and restore the
Great Lakes ecosystem through the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration process.
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