A new book is out on water and the history of managing this resource in the U.S.-Canadian borderlands. Climate change will deeply affect how nations negotiate water rights, and this tension will continue to influence political realities in border regions for decades to come. Border Flows: A Century of the Canadian-American Water Relationship, edited by Lynne Heasley and Daniel Macfarlane, is a welcome and timely addition to the scholarly literature. From the book’s description by the University of Calgary Press:
The 8,800-kilometer border dividing Canada and the United States contains more than 20 percent of the world’s total freshwater resources, and Border Flows traces the century-long effort by Canada and the United States to manage and care for their ecologically and economically shared rivers and lakes. Ranging across the continent, from the Great Lakes to the Northwest Passage to the Salish Sea, the histories in Border Flows offer critical insights into the historical struggle to care for these vital waters. From multiple perspectives, the book reveals alternative paradigms in water history, law, and policy at scales from the local to the transnational. Students, concerned citizens, and policymakers alike will benefit from the lessons to be found along this critical international border.
For more information, follow the link. Also, thanks goes to Daniel Macfarlane for reaching out to us to let us know about the work he’s doing in this field, so we could share it with all of you.
Borderlands History 