New WWF Digital Atlas Vital to Help Canada Lead World in Responsible Pipeline Development

WWF

Coming at a crucial point in planning for a gas pipeline down the NWT’s Mackenzie Valley, the atlas will help communities, developers and governments identify a network of priority areas of high natural and cultural value to be protected before industrial development and associated infrastructure is in place. This $4 billion pipeline will be one of the largest development projects ever attempted in North America, therefore its environmental and cultural impacts must be responsibly addressed.

“With the International Pipeline Conference taking place in Calgary this week, the atlas is a vital tool to help position Canada’s Mackenzie project as a model of proactive conservation planning, rather than just mitigating conservation and social problems,” said Dr. Peter Ewins, WWF-Canada’s Director of Arctic Conservation. “The WWF presentation at this industry conference focuses on an achievable vision for the Mackenzie pipeline – a very different approach that will avoid the environmental and social disasters associated with major development projects elsewhere in the world.”

“Before any development begins, careful planning is imperative in order to minimize adverse impacts on northern wildlife and traditional lifestyles,” said Bill Carpenter, WWF-Canada’s NWT Regional Conservation Director. “This atlas provides a wide range of cultural and natural resource information intended to assist communities and others to identify sites under the NWT Protected Areas Strategy. WWF-Canada has led the atlas project over the past year, but the atlas itself was prepared in the north by northerners, for northerners.”

The 3 CD-ROM set atlas is the first collation and mapping of all readily available biophysical data for the NWT. The data span a wide range of themes including:

  • Mineral, oil and gas rights and potential
  • Timber productive forests
  • Some First Nations community conservation plans and heritage sites
  • Ecoregions
  • Wildlife habitat
  • Topographic information (transportation, water bodies, elevation etc.)
  • Archaeological sites
  • Land use permits
  • Protected areas (candidate and existing)
  • Landcover

“Communities in the Mackenzie Valley are working hard to identify culturally and naturally significant areas to be protected from development through the NWT Protected Areas Strategy,” said Mr. Carpenter. “Local and government leaders have indicated their firm support for completing the conservation planning and reserving a network of important ecological and cultural sites before the pipeline is built.”

“I look upon it as a moral responsibility to ensure that the environment is maintained, especially the integrity of the land,” said Grand Chief Michael Nadli of the Deh Cho First Nations. “I think that development has to be balanced with conservation. There have to be parallel, not separate, initiatives that at some point come into conjunction and coordination.”

In a wide ranging interview published in August, The Hon. Robert Nault, federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, said, “I would see that the Protected Areas Strategy is one of our major priorities, simply because it is also the territorial governments’ and First Nations’ priorities.” And in March, The Hon. Jim Antoine, NWT’s Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development said, “In the spirit of a balanced approach to development and conservation, I am reaffirming our government’s commitment to establishing a network of representative protected areas in the Northwest Territories…after development, it is too late.”

Imperial Oil, the lead company in the Mackenzie pipeline consortium, recently signalled its intention to “fast track” construction of the pipeline and is calling on regulatory and assessment agencies to also accelerate their work. It is absolutely crucial that this quickened pace not compromise environmental and socio-cultural values, in a “fast track” simply for the economic bottom-line. Imperial is expected to file an initial application with the Canadian government in the next few weeks seeking regulatory approval for the project. Gas could be flowing through the pipeline as early as 2007. Provided leaders of all sides sit down before, not after, problems arise, WWF believes that the Mackenzie project could become a proud showcase for investors, companies, Aboriginal people and conservation groups alike.