Federal Government Management of a Globally Important Bird Sanctuary Raises Fears for the Health of the Mackenzie Delta

Recent federal government decisions in regard to the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary demonstrate that the current outdated approach to resource allocation in the delta must be changed to avoid disastrous long-term results for this globally significant habitat for migratory wildlife such as loons, swans, geese, ducks, caribou and grizzly bears.

WWF-Canada is calling for the federal government to protect the wildlife and habitat values of the Mackenzie Delta by respecting existing policy, establishing protected areas, and setting thresholds for development in advance of allocating drilling rights and other development decisions. WWF-Canada and other interveners in the Mackenzie Gas Project Public Hearings will raise these concerns and recommend more modern, less risky approaches on November 15-16 in Inuvik, during the Joint Review Panel’s Hearing on Wildlife and Wildlife Habitat.

This fall, the federal government issued yet another drilling permit in the Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary in the Mackenzie Delta, a globally outstanding breeding area for migratory birds. While government officials have called this a “mistake,” the new permit is in addition to 10 existing Significant Discovery Licences for oil and gas in the Sanctuary. The Mackenzie Gas Project, if approved, will make exploitation of these licenses possible, thereby putting the entire Sanctuary at risk. This current approach to allocation has not protected the wildlife values for which the Sanctuary was established, and must not be replicated in the remainder of the Mackenzie Delta.

The federal government should follow its own Cabinet Directive (1999) and complete a Strategic Environmental Assessment for this major river Delta. This must generate a clear, long-term plan that sets aside an adequate network of protected natural areas for wildlife that depend on the Mackenzie Delta for survival, as well as other zones in which economic development can safely occur using modern environmental safeguards. Further, any plan must address concerns expressed by local Aboriginal people, such as ensuring that industrial development does not put at risk the continued harvesting of fish and wildlife. No such balanced plan exists yet.

“Before approvals can be made for a basin-opening major gas pipeline, a comprehensive network of protected key wildlife habitats must be in place, as part of a well-balanced Delta-wide plan” said Dr. Peter Ewins of WWF-Canada. “The fact that we are still granting multiple oil and gas development permits in a globally outstanding bird sanctuary shows we are still behaving in an archaic frontier-development mode. This may help fossil fuel companies in the short term, but it puts at risk the long-term health of the environment and local communities.”

WWF-Canada supports the “Conservation First” principle, which states that conservation concerns must be met before or concurrent with development decisions. An underlying conservation approach is necessary to ensure that industrial development does not incrementally degrade this still pristine major delta system. This principle has not been met in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary and opportunities in the rest of the Delta are quickly being lost.

For example, a critical tool for conservation planning in the region is the community-based Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy (NWT PAS), a partnership of all governments, Aboriginal regional organizations, NGOs and oil, gas and mining industries. The NWT PAS 5-year Action Plan ‘Conservation Planning for Pipeline Development’ sets out a path for identifying and reserving a network of key ecological and cultural areas in the region, including the Mackenzie Delta. Governments must ensure this process and Action Plan is funded and completed before major development decisions.

Bill Carpenter, conservation advisor for WWF-Canada in the N.W.T., says, “If we are not careful, the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary will more closely resemble an industrial park than a wildlife refuge. We can’t repeat this mistake in what’s left of this globally important Delta.”