Stakeholder collaboration in the Columbia River Treaty Review process

Abstract

The public participation element of the Columbia River Treaty Review process conducted in the United States was assessed: to what extent did it incorporate participation by basin stakeholders, how importantly did this figure in the minds of stakeholders, and what is the prospect for stakeholder concerns to be given meaningful attention by the US Department of State in deliberations and actions concerning the future of the treaty? The analysis revealed that collaboration is important to stakeholders, and the process facilitated a significant degree of collaboration. The continuation of collaboration in treaty negotiation and in post-2024 treaty implementation was recommended.

Keywords:

• Columbia River Treaty
• treaty review
• stakeholder collaboration
• qualitative methods
• treaty recommendation

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewer who provided excellent suggestions that assisted us in improving this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.