McGill University
M.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Gordon Hickey
Start: 2024-09-01
End: 2025-12-31

Project

Confluence and Effluence: Conflict and Collaboration in Transboundary Water Governance
Effective water governance is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time, especially as climate change accelerates and populations grow. Water frequently crosses municipal, provincial, and national boundaries, creating complex governance issues where legal and political frameworks often fail to align. This proposed research explores the challenges of managing transboundary water resources, focusing on how conflict shapes collaborative governance. Drawing on an empirical case study of the St Mary-Milk River basin, a line of inquiry on how network actors navigate these tensions and work toward collaborative solutions will be showcased. The presentation will highlight the importance of recognizing interdependencies, fostering trust, and promoting substantive/functional conflict to improve coordination and decision-making across jurisdictions. Examining the network administrative organization responsible for water governance in Alberta and Montana will deepen our understanding of the social and political dynamics of transboundary water governance under conditions of scarcity.