What is the Great Lakes Science Plan for the Next Generation?
When complete, the Great Lakes Science Plan for the Next Generation (the Science Plan) will provide a roadmap for coordinating Great Lakes science activities that:
- Addresses identified science needs and gaps
- Aligns with priorities of existing federal government agency science plans and strategies
- Estimates needed resources to guide new investments
- Relies on both western science and Indigenous Knowledge
- Recommends arrangements for how to carry out the plan over the next generation.
What is the Great Lakes Science Plan Collaborative?
The Great Lakes Science Plan Collaborative provides guidance in the development of the Science Plan. The Collaborative constitutes more than 30 institutions including government agencies, universities, Tribal and First Nations agencies and organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. The International Joint Commission (IJC) Great Lakes Science Advisory Board convenes facilitates the Collaborative. The Collaborative first convened in August 2023.
What is the status of the Great Lakes Science Plan?
The Science Plan is currently in development, with a final report expected to be available by early 2026. The Great Lakes Science Plan Collaborative, with the support of a contractor team, are holding convenings throughout 2024-2025 to support the development of the Science Plan, including:
- Governance discussion 1 (June 2024)
- Monitoring, modeling and forecasting (October 2024)
- Regional gatherings with major science providers (Winter 2024-25)
- Workforce development, including Centers of Excellence (Winter 2025)
- Governance discussion 2 (Spring 2025)
- Critique and analysis of the draft Science Plan (Spring- Summer 2025).
There are also efforts to incorporate input from communities in the development of the Science Plan are being coordinated through engagements with targeting equity-deserving communities and Tribes, First Nations, and Métis communities throughout the Great Lakes region.
What is the role of the International Joint Commission and its Great Lakes Science Advisory Board?
The International Joint Commission (IJC) was established by Canada and the United States prevent and resolve disputes over the use of their shared waters. The IJC’s responsibilities include providing advice to the governments of Canada and the United States under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Great Lakes and connecting waters. The IJC’s Great Lakes Science Advisory Board provides advice to the IJC on Great Lakes water quality issues. The board convenes and facilitates the activities of the Great Lakes Science Plan Collaborative towards the development of the Great Lakes Science Plan for the Next Generation.
Why is a Great Lakes Science Plan needed?
The Great Lakes Science Plan will galvanize resources, coordination and attention around science activities that will protect the people, environment and economy of the Great Lakes region over the next generation.
The wellbeing of the millions of residents who rely on the lakes for drinking water and the region’s US$6 trillion (CDN$7.5 trillion) economy depends on science activities, like surveillance and modeling, to anticipate and prevent threats to water quality, the environment and public health. Yet, we estimate only 10 percent of governments’ existing annual investments in the Great Lakes are dedicated to science activities. As the Great Lakes face growing ecological threats, the investment in rigorous, long-term and forward-looking predictive science and surveillance has not kept pace.
Cutting-edge science and surveillance also helps managers and decision-makers to anticipate, predict and understand the impacts of climate change, invasive species, emerging stressors and changes in population and land use that are rapidly transforming the Great Lakes ecosystem. A coordinated plan to enhance Great Lakes science capacity will help shape policy and management choices that anticipate and mitigate the risk of these threats to better protect the environment and quality of life in the region.
What is the Great Lakes Science Strategy?
The 2022 Great Lakes Science Strategy for the Next Decade (the Science Strategy) was the first step toward the development of the Great Lakes Science Plan. The Strategy identified six major areas where resources are needed to fill science gaps, and makes the case for why a Science Plan at a decade-scale or greater is imperative for achieving the goals and objectives of the 2012 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
There is already federal funding focused on the Great Lakes, why is more science investment needed?
The US Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and Canada’s Freshwater Ecosystem Initiative funding focus primarily on addressing legacy impacts like pollution and contaminated sediments, nutrient enrichment from agricultural runoff, and the establishment and spread of aquatic invasive species. Significant progress towards restoring Areas of Concern, implementing agricultural best management practices, and preventing new aquatic species invasions – among other progress - has been accomplished through these programs, but they are at their core about correcting the impacts of the past.
It is critically important the existing investments in remediation and management continue, and that there be new and additional investments in science that are fundamentally oriented towards the future and will improve our ability to understand and prepare for what that future will bring. Experience shows that remediating legacy impacts can be very expensive—much more expensive than preventing those impacts in the first place. Examples include contaminated sediment cleanup for banned substances like PCBs, and ongoing costs to maintain critical infrastructure from invasive zebra and quagga mussels.
What additional investments are needed to significantly advance science-based decision-making into the future?
Enhanced investments supporting Great Lakes science activities would enable broad cross-cutting programs of natural science, social science, economics, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and training the next generation of scientists. Resources dedicated to implementing the Science Plan will enhance the essential role of fundamental ecosystem knowledge in projecting future conditions, informing management and reducing uncertainties to ensure the sustainability, health and resilience of the Great Lakes ecosystem, its regional economy and its people.
The Science Strategy identifies six areas where additional investment is required:
- Basic process research – support basic process research studies, aimed at a more complete understanding of the physics, biogeochemistry, food webs, climate forcing, and dynamics of the interactions between the lakes and their watersheds.
- Monitoring and long time series measurements –current monitoring efforts have spatial and temporal coverage limitations; implementing modern technologies can expand monitoring to capture long term trends over all seasons, including winter.
- Enhanced models and forecasting systems – developing integrated physical-biogeochemical-ecosystem models will provide the capability to project conditions under future scenarios.
- Workforce development – universities and natural resource agencies to help train the next generation of social and natural scientists, engineers and technicians to mitigate the looming impact of an aging workforce.
- Research infrastructure – to expand analytical capacity, improved laboratory facilities, advanced sampling platforms, and creating well-supported, permanent Centers of Excellence that promote interdisciplinarity and working across institutional boundaries.
- Inclusion of broad socioeconomic and cultural perspectives – empower perspectives that extend beyond natural science to include other ways of knowing, including Indigenous Knowledge, and engaging a more representative cross-section of our Great Lakes communities.
What level of investment is needed?
The Science Plan development process will consider costs and strategies to implement an expanded science enterprise in the Great Lakes basin. For more information about estimated resources for implementing the Science Plan and coordination of funding, please inquire with the Collaborative by emailing sciencestrategy@ijc.org.
How does the Great Lakes Science Plan relate to other science planning initiatives?
There are many ongoing science-related planning/coordination activities and initiatives, such as the USGS Science Forum Report or Canada’s National Freshwater Science Agenda that were identified during development of the Science Strategy. The Science Strategy report was developed with the involvement of the organizations/agencies coordinating these complementary initiatives through their participation in the surveys and workshops that supported the development of the 2022 Science Strategy report.
Moving forward, ongoing attention to alignment and coordination is essential to the success of the Great Lakes Science Plan. Based on guidance and input from the Collaborative, the convenings that are part of the Science Plan development process will involve participation from organizations/agencies coordinating these other science plans and strategies to help align and coordinate the Science Plan with these complementary efforts.
I still have questions
Interested individuals can ask questions or provide their perspectives on the Science Plan by contacting the IJC’s Great Lakes Regional Office at sciencestrategy@ijc.org.