CPAWS Briefs Energy Ministers on
Oil and Gas Development
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Brief to the Council of Mines and Energy Ministers
Quebec City
September 11th, 2001
Re: Conservation and Energy Development in Northern Canada
Oil and gas exploration and development, along with renewed discussion of potential pipeline routes are issues of great interest to northerners. Many people look forward to the possible economic benefits. Others are deeply concerned about the risk of impacts on the environment, our communities, way of life, and the loss of economic alternatives related to the North’s greatest assets – its wilderness, wildlife and clean waters. We also share concerns about energy policies that promote the use of hydrocarbons instead of supporting conservation and alternative renewable energy sources. The effects of hydrocarbon use on climate change are well documented. If the North’s natural gas reserves are developed, government’s responsibility is to steer development towards the least environmentally damaging and economically most advantageous direction.
Canada and the Yukon and Northwest Territories governments have endorsed an international convention on the conservation of biodiversity, and governments across the country committed in 1992 to completing a network of protected areas by the year 2000. In response to this commitment, the NWT and Yukon governments have developed and formally committed to protected areas strategies, and are in the preliminary stages of implementing these strategies. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), along with other industry players, have indicated their support for the protected areas strategies. The oil and gas industry in general, and many pipeline companies in particular, have policies supporting conservation and protected areas.
Non-government organizations are also playing an increasingly important role in partnerships for conservation. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has worked, since 1963, to protect Canada’s wild places. We are supported by close to 20,000 members across Canada, and have 10 active Chapters, including Northwest Territories and Yukon Chapters. Our northern Chapters are actively working with the territorial governments, First Nations, and with other conservation groups such as the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the World Wildlife Fund to complete networks of protected areas.
The opportunity and responsibility to link development with conservation was best articulated by Chief Justice Berger during the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline hearings in the 1970s. Justice Berger recommended the establishment of large conservation areas in advance of any pipeline development to help compensate for the long-term impacts on the environment and northern way of life. Berger’s recommendations led in part to the creation of Ivvavik National Park and other conservation provisions on the North Slope of the Yukon. His wisdom is as poignant and relevant today as it was more than 25 years ago.
Any large-scale development must be weighed in equal measure with conservation. Only in this way will the Yukon protect its wilderness, wildlife, way of life – and enjoy a robust economy in the future.
The following initiatives are proposed to help ensure that conservation and development are considered equally in the best long-term interests of northern peoples and the northern economy. These proposals are consistent with government policies and First Nations’ agreements. Northern communities and First Nations stand to gain from both the conservation and economic benefits of the proposals. These proposals also recognize the fundamental importance of environmental protection to a sustainable economy.
We recommend that the Governments of Canada, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories:
- Complete a network of representative protected areas in advance of large-scale development. This system should be part of a comprehensive biodiversity conservation strategy, and include the protection and conservation of key wildlife habitat, wildlife movement routes, wilderness, wetlands, and special ecological and cultural features.
- Complete regional land-use planning before large-scale land dispositions for oil and gas exploration or development. The precautionary principle is key. Where formal land use planning is not feasible in advance of resource dispositions, defer all known areas of high conservation value until such time as land and conservation planning can be completed.
- Ensure that cumulative effects of development proposals and any associated development activities are considered during land use planning and environmental assessment by completing and implementing the cumulative effects assessment and management framework in the NWT and Yukon, and the cumulative impacts monitoring section of the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act.
- Where exploration and development are acceptable outside conservation lands, use the best available measures to reduce the ecological footprint of industrial activities. Minimize linear disturbance and habitat fragmentation, minimize road access, and reduce or eliminate all related adverse environmental and socioeconomic effects.
- Ensure the protection of the birthing grounds, and the protection and conservation of the winter range of the Porcupine and Bathurst Caribou Herds.
In Canada’s North there remains an unprecedented opportunity to integrate conservation and development in a way which is truly sustainable. The knowledge exists. What remains to be tested is the political will to ensure that economic development pressures do not override environmental and social considerations.
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society respectfully requests that you, as Ministers responsible for energy across the country, summon the wisdom and courage to ensure that, should development proceed, it is done in the most responsible, forward-thinking manner possible. We ask that you ensure that development today does not undermine the ecological and social integrity of the fragile northern environment for future generations. We ask that you follow the vision laid out by Justice Berger 25 years ago, and ensure that if development occurs, it proceeds hand in hand with conservation.
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