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<br />864 <br /> <br />NATURAL RESOURCES JOURNAL <br /> <br />[Vol. 40 <br /> <br />V. CONCLUSION <br /> <br />Saving the Delta from further decline and shoring up resources to <br />improve the quality of its habitats will require substantial long-term <br />commitments by numerous stakeholders. The challenges are many, <br />including the arbitrary obstacle of a political border that severs the Delta <br />from its watershed; the distrust across an international border; the <br />heterogeneity of institutions implicated in the Delta's conservation; the <br />archaic Law of the River that focuses on offstream water developments and <br />consumptive use instead of a more modem interest in instream flows, <br />envirorunental restoration, and the ecological values of the Delta; the need <br />for specific, codified water deliveries to the Delta; and the need for a <br />binational agreement between Mexico and the United States that requires <br />the commitment of governments and local communities to manage for the <br />Delta ecosystem's health. <br />These challenges are considerable, yet surely less imposing than the <br />cumulative cost and complexity of the construction of storage and diversion <br />projects on the Colorado River. The cost of dessication and loss of <br />remaining emergent wetland and riparian habitat in the Colorado River <br />delta, and the loss of myriad terrestrial and aquatic species these habitats <br />support, cannot be calculated. Clearly these costs would be W'lacceptably <br />high. The value society places on nature today is reflected in envirorunental <br />laws such as the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the billions of dollars in <br />voluntary contributions given each year to envirorunental organizations. <br />Mexico has made a significant commitment to the Delta in declaring it a <br />biosphere reserve, and both the United States and Mexico have laid the <br />foundation for substantive conservation management in their Letter of <br />Intent and Joint Declaration. Both nations are ruled by democracies that <br />ostensibly represent their citizenry and govern for their benefit. The <br />Colorado River was developed in the twentieth century by a society <br />determined to tap natural resources for economic gain; surely the river's <br />Delta can be preserved in the twenty-first century by a society determined <br />to conserve natural ecosystems. <br /> <br />r <br />it <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />! <br /> <br />C," <br />CJ <br />W <br />~ <br />, <br /> <br />c.o <br />