The UNESCO report on Wood Buffalo National Park shows that there is an urgent need to solve problems, says First Nation

A report from a United Nations body on environmental threats to Canada’s largest national park shows the urgency of the issues, says a First Nation spokesperson who initially reported concerns about Wood Buffalo National Park to UNESCO.

The paper, released last week and the latest in a series of studies of the park on the border between Alberta and Northwest Territories, reaffirms threats from dams, oil sands development and climate change.

Melody Lepine of the Mikisew Cree First Nation says the report is clearer than ever about what needs to be done, and when, to keep the park environmentally friendly.

“I think the experts have now recognized the sense of urgency,” she said Wednesday.

The Mikisew Cree brought concerns about Wood Buffalo, a World Heritage Site, to UNESCO almost a decade ago.

The park’s traditional users have seen the water level in the park drop year after year, which they say was due to the upstream Bennett Dam in British Columbia. They also feared that the growing oil and wastewater basins posed a risk to water quality.

UNESCO responded to those concerns in 2016, when an investigation found those fears to be well founded. Ottawa developed an $87 million plan to better manage and control the water in the park.

The new report is an assessment of how well that plan is working. It concludes that there is no need to remove World Heritage status from the park at this time and praises many of the plan’s initiatives, such as creating wildland buffer zones.

But of the 14 targets for the park, UNESCO says, only two are improving, with five stable and seven deteriorating.

Five of the 17 recommendations relate to the oil sands, including a call for a risk assessment of tailings ponds, environmental monitoring reform, plans to reclaim the ponds that do not threaten the park, and reviewing new projects in light of what’s already there developed.

While most of its recommendations have been made before, the new report suggests timelines. The risk assessment should take place at the end of next year; Residue recovery plans must be completed before 2026; and land use plans need to be “accelerated”.

Lepine said those deadlines are a result of a UNESCO team visit to Fort Chipewyan, a community on the edge of the park.

“They heard that urgency when they visited Fort Chipewyan. We are so concerned.”

Lepine said concerns are heightened following the release of wastewater from oil sands from Imperial Oil’s Kearl site, 70 miles north of Fort McMurray.

“The Kearl incident has really shed light on the importance of managing the tailing ponds and cleaning them up.”

Gillian Chow-Fraser of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society agreed that the new report is stricter.

“It’s much more robust in drilling into oil sands management, and really requires much more specific and larger actions to improve tailings management.”

Kendall Dilling of Pathways Alliance, a group of all major oil sands producers, said its members “appreciate Wood Buffalo National Park and the rich variety of life it supports.”

In a statement, Dilling said the industry’s efforts to manage its carbon footprint are unprecedented and pointed out that the wildland buffer around the park was reached after oil sands companies surrendered leases in the area.

“We will continue to build on a decades-long track record of meaningful engagement with Indigenous groups across all aspects of our operations and environmental performance.”

He did not respond to specific questions about risk assessment, monitoring or residue management.

Alberta Environment and Parks spokesman Benji Smith said the province is reviewing the report as it works to reclaim the oil sands. He said no residues will be released without thorough study.

“Work is underway to determine if and how oil sands mine water can be safely discharged at some point in the future,” he said in an email.

“Oilsands mine waters will not be approved for release until we can definitively demonstrate … that it can be done safely and that strict regulatory processes are in place to ensure the protection of human and environmental health.”

Progress has been made, says Parks Canada

Parks Canada released a statement welcoming the UNESCO report.

“The report recognizes that significant progress has been made in implementing the action plan,” it said. “The Government of Canada has been working closely with partners to promote research, ecological monitoring and ecological restoration projects throughout the park.”

It did not respond to the report’s recommendations, including a call for further funding to improve water levels. Ottawa’s funding program for Wood Buffalo ends this year.

Lepine said that while many of UNESCO’s recommendations have been ignored, it was still worth getting the group involved.

Some progress has been made, she said. And the threats to Wood Buffalo are now being taken seriously.

“We really showed the world. We showed Canada that our concerns were real and substantive.”