A deep dive into environmental governance in the Gulf
On Thursday Nov. 7, Mt.A department of politics and international relations Professor, Mario Levesque, celebrated the publication of his co-authored book, Environmental Governance in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with fellow Mt.A students and staff in Convocation Hall. He led the book launch alongside fellow author Peter Clancy, a politics professor at Saint Francis Xavier University (St.FX). The two got involved together in writing the book, because they “were always finding ourselves together at conferences on panels discussing environmental topics,” said Levesque. This led to an intrigue in the environmental politics in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which is situated between the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean, with shores touching five provinces. These include: Quebec, New Brunswick, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Gulf’s politics are unique as there is no overarching authority governing it, allowing the five provincial governments and federal departments to play a role in its management. Within the book, they explore the question, “how do we adapt our governance systems to meet that change and to meet the governance challenges of the future,” said Levesque. Due to the variety of political actors and voices, the book explains how policy boundaries make it challenging to manage the Gulf. It also discusses the “framework for how the Gulf is governed overall and whether we’re moving to more sustainable, flexible, yet effective environmental governance,” said Levesque. They examine this by looking at eight different case studies, which include marine infrastructures, fisheries, offshore oil and gas, and more. Both Mt.A and St.FX undergrad students were involved in the research under Levesque and Clancy to examine these case studies. After these examinations, their suggestion is to form a system of deliberation and build a “better governance system by involving the local civil society actors or the NGO,” said Levesque.
It has taken Levesque and Clancy over 10 years to put together Book Title, starting the project in 2015. After talking about the idea with each other at conferences, they were given a research grant that allowed them to delve into the governance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Initial research examined 12 different case studies, however, Levesque said they ultimately “had to cut out four case studies because the publisher thought the book was going to be too long.” Levesque added that the other case studies are being “worked to get them published as journal articles instead.” This project was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic as they submitted their “manuscript to the publisher for review” and revisions which took a year and a half, when it usually takes three to four months. Despite this setback, they continued their research inspired by the Gulf’s future. “Students are the future and we’re going to be living and working around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in our communities,” said Levesque.
This project produced the first scholarly book on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, highlighting a complex set of government and environmental systems. The importance of it is about ensuring a healthy Gulf “that can support local communities from fisheries, to recreation, to protecting ecosystems, and habitats that are critical,” he said. This book is available at Tidewater Books and Browsery in downtown Sackville, or on Amazon.