UNESCO calls on Canada to address threats to Wood Buffalo National Park – CPaws

Jul 02 2015

On Canada Day, while most of us were barbequing hamburgers and veggie dogs, and enjoying family and community celebrations of our magnificent country, members of the Mikisew Cree First Nation from northeastern Alberta were in Bonn, Germany where UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee was holding its annual meeting. The Mikisew made the trek to highlight their serious concerns about the future of Wood Buffalo National Park, a World Heritage Site, which is part of their homeland and is being damaged by industrial mega-developments upstream.

In December of last year, the Mikisew Cree petitioned the World Heritage Committee to place Wood Buffalo on the list of World Heritage in Danger because of the threats posed to the park, particularly to the delta of the Peace and Athabasca Rivers which is the largest freshwater inland delta in the world. For millennia this delta has sustained Mikisew Cree and other indigenous communities. We share their concern about the health of this globally significant and sensitive ecosystem. READ MORE ABOUT THE PETITION

Read More: http://cpaws.org/blog/unesco-calls-on-canada-to-address-threats-to-wood-buffalo-national-par