The Columbia River Transboundary Water Governance and Ethics Symposium 2024

Please join us on November 13th - 14th 2024, for a gathering to engage residents of the international Columbia River Basin in public education and dialogue on transboundary issues and public involvement in river governance. The 2024 conference is hosted by the University of British Columbia Okanagan, the Universities Consortium on Columbia River Governance, the One River Ethics Matter Project, the North American Youth Parliament for Water, and the Climate Institute at Gonzaga University. The Symposium will focus on: The Agreement in Principle and steps toward a Modernized Columbia River Treaty with an opportunity for question and answer (negotiators invited and confirmed); water quality in the headwaters and transboundary mainstem; climate change; salmon re-introduction and habitat restoration. The guiding principle of the conference is Ethics, defined as Justice (righting historic wrongs and shared benefits in the context of water development), Autonomy (a voice for the ecosystem), Stewardship, and Intergenerational Equity. The guiding principle of ethics will be the lens through which the conference considers governance now and in the future in the Columbia Basin. Governance will be considered in its broadest meaning to include formal government and informal efforts to take collective action. It will include discussion of public engagement, transboundary information sharing, and means to connect university research to efforts to address emerging issues in the basin.