21/02/2006 - Inuvik, NWT
- WWF-Canada testified today at the Joint
Review Panel (JRP) Public Hearings for the
proposed Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) in
Inuvik. WWF-Canada provided firm support
for the calls of many northerners to protect
an adequate network of special cultural
and wildlife areas prior to completing any
major pipeline development project. The
hearings are to assess the long-term impacts,
both positive and negative, of this project,
and establish key conditions under which
any pipeline might be approved and built.
At the start of such a major hydrocarbon
‘basin-opening’ pipeline project, the main
concern shared by northerners and WWF-Canada
is that the long-term interests of the people,and
the natural ecosystems and wildlife will
be protected. The gas, oil and mineral rush
in Canada’s north is now on, driven by escalating
prices and energy security issues. The JRP
has to help the nation decide how to effectively
and openly balance both long-term and short-term
interests and public commitments, which
are at stake.
“In Canada, WWF has worked for over 30
years in support of northern communities.
In fact, I testified at the Berger Inquiry
in the mid 1970s, said Monte Hummel, President
Emeritus of WWF-Canada. “Many of the points
made by northerners and Justice Berger then
are still relevant today. We must sequence
conservation first before large-scale development
of this kind; it is imperative to the livelihoods
of northerners, as well as to wildlife species
and their habitats”.
WWF-Canada is calling on the JRP to support
and recommend several key points in it’s
impact assessment work in 2006, and in it’s
final report to the National Energy Board,
including:
• Conduct a full Strategic Environmental
Assessment for the Mackenzie Valley and
Beaufort Sea
• Complete comprehensive land use planning
and long-term conservation measures before
further decisions on industrial allocations
• Fully implement the multi-partner, community-based
NWT Protected Areas Strategy Action Plan
to 2010
• Establish benchmark reference areas to
assist with impacts monitoring and mitigation
measures
• Protect a robust network of connected
natural areas to help people and wildlife
adapt to impacts of rapid climate change
in this sensitive region
• Establish and sustain full environmental
monitoring and infrastructure clean-up initiatives
including via sufficient posted bonds
• Utilise fully the existing NWT Cumulative
Effects Assessment and Management framework
• Initiate immediately the development of
a national sustainable energy strategy
If implemented, these measures will ensure
that the integrity of the land and distinctive
cultural traditions will be safeguarded
for future generations. This area is home
to Aboriginal people, but their lands are
also home to some huge natural populations
of caribou, polar and grizzly bears, migratory
birds and one of the largest un-dammed rivers
in the world. The Mackenzie River basin
is an integral part of the Canadian landscape
and history, no matter where in Canada you
reside.
"Northern people do not want a pipeline
at any cost – we do want to avoid the mistakes
made elsewhere in the world. This is our
homeland, and will be home for our grandchildren.
We need a full network of protected areas
in the 16 key ecoregions that will be affected
by the Mackenzie Gas Project and related
and subsequent developments before any pipeline
construction is completed. These special
cultural and ecological areas will help
mitigate the inevitable long-term impacts
that our land will experience", stated
Stephen Kakfwi, former Premier of the NWT,
and advocate for the NWT Protected Areas
Strategy.
For many years, WWF-Canada has maintained
a full-time office in the NWT to provide
substantial financial, technical and political
support to many northern community conservation
projects on wildlife species, toxic chemicals,
climate change, traditional knowledge and
resource mapping, especially for community-initiated
protected areas. WWF-Canada remains a strong
partner in the community-based NWT Protected
Areas Strategy that aims to protect a full
network of natural areas for future generations,
ahead of major industrial development and
while the opportunity still remains.
Community-supported initiatives, combined
with high quality land and resource use
planning and leading-edge environmental
assessment and mitigation measures, provide
Canada with world-class conservation opportunities,
which are still relatively intact. WWF-Canada
has worked with the Mackenzie Gas Project
team, and with many other companies in Canada
and worldwide, to help forge better all
round solutions to energy development issue.
For industry, and for society in general,
collaborative solutions provide greater
certainty, by avoiding unnecessary future
conflicts and risks.
"Having chaired the U.S. Congress-initiated
review of 35 years of northern Alaska's
Prudhoe Bay oil and gas developments, a
very similar situation to that facing the
NWT, I can safely say that we have learned
many important lessons about the benefits
and costs of such inevitable cumulative
oil and gas developments upon opening of
a new basin and pipeline,” says Professor
Emeritus Gordon Orians, who is testifying
on behalf of WWF-Canada. “Managing the inevitable
cumulative impacts is key - helping to reduce
or eliminate damage that would otherwise
certainly occur.I am pleased to be able
to help the Joint Review Panel select the
best credible and comprehensive approach
to their environmental assessment work,
based on our Alaskan experiences".
WWF-Canada is the first charity in Canada
to qualify for the Progressive Aboriginal
Relations (PAR) program of the Canadian
Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB),
as part of an organizational commitment
throughout its work. Following a successful
audit by the National Quality Institute
(NQI) the CCAB will be recognizing WWF-Canada’s
achievement at its annual gala dinner on
February 21, 2006.
