Action research to improve water quality in Canada’s Rideau Canal: how do local groups reshape environmental governance?

A grassroots initiative, the Three Lakes Water Quality Group (TLG), demonstrates significant potential to drive collaborative environmental governance by addressing toxic algal blooms in Canada's Rideau Canal. Through action research involving interviews and workshops, the study reveals that TLG's transdisciplinary approach effectively mobilizes local stakeholders to discuss water quality issues, raising awareness, enforcing policy, and generating knowledge. The findings suggest that leveraging collaborative systems thinking could enhance the group's impact on governance, offering a model for managing similar historic waterways and promoting co-governance efforts.

Mistry, I., Beaudoin, C., Kotecha, J., Evans, H., Stevens, M., Vermaire, J. C., Cooke, S. J., & Young, N. (2021). Action research to improve water quality in Canada’s Rideau Canal: how do local groups reshape environmental governance? Local Environment, 26(5), 575–594. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2021.1904857