A variety of threats, from dam building to oil sands development, pose significant danger to the health of Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

Though remotely located in northeastern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories and larger in combined area than all of the Netherlands, Wood Buffalo nevertheless is at risk from encroaching industrial development, coupled with inadequate management by Parks Canada, a UNESCO report issued last week said.

But there are, the report said, other threats that need to be more closely examined as well.

"One key finding of the mission with respect to the cumulative impacts of the threats to the (Outstanding Universal Value) of the property is that they are far more complex and severe than previously thought," it noted.

A UNESCO team visited Wood Buffalo National Park last fall at the request of the Mikisew Cree First Nation "to assess the state of conservation of the property and potential threats to its Outstanding Universal Value." Areas of concern found by the team included potential impacts of a hydroelectric dam on the Peace-Athabasca Delta, impacts from existing and proposed tar sands operations just south of the national park, and "unresolved conflicts and tensions between Aboriginal Peoples and governmental and private sector actors..."

Wood Buffalo National Park, which covers 17,300 square miles and is Canada's largest national park, is home to North America's largest population of wild bison, nesting grounds for whooping crane, and home to the world's "largest inland delta, located at the mouth of the Peace and Athabasca rivers."

"The proposed Teck Frontier (oil sands) project would place the oil sands development ever closer to the southern boundary of WBNP and thereby the threats and risks originating from leaks and spills from tailings ponds; additional water withdrawal; and atmospheric deposition of particles containing contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitrogen oxides, and sulphate," the report noted. "The proposed Teck Frontier project would also result in direct encroachment into the documented habitat of the disease-free Ronald Lake Wood Bison Herd, which is of major conservation importance."

Other risks to the park are tied to the pulp and paper industry in the area, historic uranium mining near the shores of Lake Athabasca, growth of agriculture in the region, "and the increasingly intense resource development in the upper Peace River watershed. All of the aforementioned stressors should be fully considered as part of the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for WBNP and include changes both inside and outside the property that are deemed potentially important with respect to its Ecological Integrity under the overall lens of climate change," the report states.

At the time of its initial establishment (1922) and subsequent expansion (1926), WBNP was located within a vast intact and remote landscape, which for the most part was very difficult to access. While WBNP continues to be a comparatively remote protected area, the mission fully agrees with most observers that continuation of the development approach of the last decades renders the future of WBNP uncertain at the very best, in particular as regards the PAD. Several current project proposals add severity and urgency to this message.

The report carried 17 recommendations:

Recommendation 1
Adopt a clear and coherent policy and guidance to enable the transition to a genuine partnership with First Nations and Métis communities in the governance and management of the property.

Recommendation 2
Considering the increasing pressures on the property at this time, prioritise conservation and ensure that the State Party’s science capacity enables Parks Canada’s legal obligation to maintain and restore the Ecological Integrity of the property.

Recommendation 3
To enable informed decision-making, conduct environmental flows assessments to the highest international standards for the Peace, Athabasca and Slave Rivers as they pertain to the health of the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD), in order to identify water flows needed to sustain the ecological functioning of the PAD under the circumstances of existing and planned future dams and water withdrawals. These assessments should incorporate projections of climate change and should determine the cumulative effects on the PAD and the property of flow regulation of all existing and proposed dams on all three rivers.

Recommendation 4
Conduct, in line with the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, an environmental and social impact assessment of the Site C project and, if moved forward, any other hydropower projects potentially affecting the Outstanding Universal Value of the property.

Recommendation 5
Conduct an environmental and social impact assessment of the proposed Teck Frontier oil sands mine project in line with the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment, fully taking into account the Outstanding Universal Value of the property, including the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

Recommendation 6
Conduct a systematic risk assessment of the tailings ponds of the Alberta Oil Sands region with a focus on risks to the Peace-Athabasca Delta, and submit the report of this assessment to the World Heritage Centre, for review by IUCN, in accordance with Paragraph 172 of the Operational Guidelines.

Recommendation 7
Establish adequate baseline hydrological information of the Peace and Athabasca River Basins to enhance the reference for monitoring and assessing current and future hydrological conditions.

Recommendation 8
Expand the scope of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which was requested by the Committee in its Decision 39 COM 7B.18, so that it adequately reflects the scale, pace and complexity of industrial development, land use changes and river flow manipulations in the Peace and Athabasca River watersheds, both in terms of individual and cumulative impacts.

Recommendation 9
Expand the scope of monitoring and project assessments to encompass possible individual and cumulative impacts on the Outstanding Universal Value of the property and in particular the PAD.

Recommendation 10
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of options, in order to underpin decision-making to put in place an effective buffer zone, as defined in the Operational Guidelines. The Birch River deserves particular attention as the only relatively intact major watershed of the PAD.

Recommendation 11
Conduct a systematic assessment of options to better realize synergies between the property and land use planning in its immediate vicinity, including the existing and planned provincial protected areas.

Recommendation 12
Consolidate the management resources and capacity to a standard commensurate with World Heritage status and adequately respond to the challenges facing the property by:
a) Reinstating a year round status and staffing of WBNP;
b) Recruiting a full-time Superintendent exclusively in charge of WBNP;
c) Ensuring an adequate Parks Canada presence in Fort Chipewyan, part of the critical Peace-Athabasca Delta area and a major ecological region of WBNP.

Recommendation 13
Further develop the existing Cooperative Management Committee established by the State Party, and consolidate a functional and effective mechanism to involve Aboriginal Peoples in the management of the property.

Recommendation 14
Ensure that the preparation and skills of involved governmental staff correspond to the requirements inherent in the evolving relationship with First Nations and Métis communities.

Recommendation 15
Further harmonize and adopt the Species Recovery Strategy for Wood Bison throughout its range, including but not limited to the Greater WBNP Ecosystem, and specifically:
a) Urgently invest in comprehensive and independent analysis of the conservation importance and status of the Ronald Lake Bison Herd, including threats to it posed by proposed development, within a broader Species Recovery Strategy;
b) Dedicate, in full cooperation with Aboriginal Peoples, adequate attention and funding to the management of Wood Bison, including as regards the development of disease management options other than culling.

Recommendation 16
Continue to closely monitor the entire used and potential nesting area of the Whooping Crane within the Greater WBNP Ecosystem so as to be able to respond to possibly changing management requirements.

Recommendation 17
Incorporate invasive alien species (IAS) into the overall monitoring of the property and the PAD based on science and local and indigenous knowledge, and based on monitoring results, develop an appropriate management response to control the spread of IAS.

The full report can be found on this page. Once you navigate there, click on the Report of the joint WHC/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada 25 September - 4 October 2016 link.