The Columbia River Treaty addresses activities impacting the river and its tributaries in Canada and the United States.

Sierra Club's Columbia River Treaty Team members organize a range of outreach efforts and invite Club members and the public to participate. For more than a decade, we have coordinated the annual "One River, Ethics Matter" conference in collaboration with Indigenous and academic partners (learn more at https://riverethics.org/).

The last conference: "The Columbia River Treaty, Emerging Initiatives, and Public Governance in the Transboundary Columbia River Basin" was  November 13th - 15th  2024 at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.

The  conference was 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 focused on:

 The guiding principle of the conference was 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 is the lens through which the conference considers governance now and in the future in the Columbia Basin.  Governance was considered in its broadest meaning to include formal government and informal efforts to take collective action.  It  included discussion of public engagement, transboundary information sharing, and means to connect university research to efforts to address emerging issues in the basin."

The NAYPW  hosted a Youth Diplomacy and Advocacy Training on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. This water diplomacy and advocacy training empowered youth attendees by equipping them with essential skills to effectively engage in discussions and advocacy related to transboundary water governance. This side event was open to all youth attendees or young professionals, who are defined as people between the ages of 18-35.