State of the Environment

Most people assume that the Yukon is endless wilderness, punctuated only by a few roads and small communities. The imagery of our beautiful mountains, wild rivers, traditional foods and charismatic large mammals has captivated people around the world. While it’s true that, according to the 1999 State of the Environment Report, about 77% of the territory remains wilderness, there are many present and future challenges to the integrity of northern ecosystems. Compared to the rest of Canada, much of the Yukon’s environment is still pristine, but what is the long-term trend?

Climate change is affecting the entire planet, and the north is no exception. Warmer summers and winters, melting permafrost, bigger and more frequent forest fires, changing water levels and a thinner coastal ice-pack, could all have profound impacts on Yukon wildlife, forests and people. How will we respond to these challenges?

It’s often said that watersheds are the arteries of our northern ecosystems. And we have all heard about the plight of Pacific salmon headlined in the news. Salmon returns in the Yukon River watershed in the mid-to late 1990s were the lowest on record. Runs improved in 2002, but what does the future hold? The Yukon River watershed is not yet free of human waste pollution, and the Yukon still has as many as 400 sites contaminated by past military, mining, industrial or oil and gas operations.

Woodland caribou, by Scott Stewart

Of the 23 woodland caribou herds in the Yukon, only 3 or 4 have virtually intact habitat, free of extensive human intervention. Scientists consider woodland caribou a “Species of Special Concern.” Several Yukon herds are already at risk from logging, potential oil and gas development, the spreading network of roads and other development. The entire winter range of the Porcupine Caribou Herd is also vulnerable due to renewed interest in oil and gas exploration and development. Threats to both woodland and porcupine caribou are clear, yet the Yukon government continues to promote development in advance of land use and conservation planning.

Even though the boreal forest in northern latitudes of Canada is still relatively intact, the demand for wood is pushing the industrial scale timber-cutting frontier into the territories. Billions of songbirds and millions of waterfowl depend on the forests and wetlands of the boreal region for their survival. In the Yukon, only 10 of the 47 wetlands critical for waterfowl have been formally protected.

Waterfowl and songbird migrations connect the Yukon to the rest of the continent and the world. Our ecosystems are an integral part of a vast east to west swath of boreal forest that encircles the sub-arctic. And our fresh waters replenish the ancient cycle of spawning salmon, along with all the species that depend upon them.

Do you know?

… about the Warning to Humanity; a document signed by over 1600 senior scientists from seventy-one countries, and over half of all living Nobel Prize winners? Experts are still signing on!

The Warning to Humanity:

“Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course … many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish … and may so alter the world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know … No more than one or a few decades remain before the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost.”

– Union of Concerned Scientists, November 1992

Alarming signs of environmental degradation across the planet have been reported for decades. So much so, we are becoming complacent. But toxic pollution, atmospheric change, deforestation, soil degradation and desertification, are directly affecting people's lives. It is now impossible to ignore the fact that global economies, social issues and the environment are all interconnected. We are caught in a global economy that demands endless growth without measuring the costs that will ransack our children’s future.

The good news is many experts believe a sustainable future is still possible. Better yet is that the Yukon, with its vast wilderness and relatively small human footprint so far, can choose a different path and provide the stewardship that could make a difference to the health of the planet as a whole. As our wilderness, clean waters and abundant wildlife become the envy of others, the value of these precious assets will increase infinitely. Will we squander what we have? Or will we leave a legacy for our children and the world?