Question Period Note: Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site Action Plan

Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site Action Plan

• In managing national parks, Parks Canada maintains or restores ecological integrity and provides Canadians with opportunities to discover and enjoy these treasured places. The Agency has been successfully managing this integrated mandate by ensuring that ecological integrity is the first priority in decision making.
• Through the Government of Canada's Budget 2018, historic investments are protecting Canada's nature, parks and wild spaces. These investments are supporting the development and early implementation of the Action Plan to protect Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site.
• In July 2019, the World Heritage Committee commended the actions that have been taken to strengthen the protection and management of the World Heritage Site.
• Through ongoing collective action with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners, the Government of Canada will preserve the Outstanding Universal Value of Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site.
• The Government of Canada will report back to the World Heritage Committee on implementation of the Action Plan by December 1, 2020.

• In December 2014, the Mikisew Cree First Nation submitted a petition to the World Heritage Committee requesting inclusion of Wood Buffalo National Park on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The petition identified a number of potential threats related to current and planned hydroelectric dams, oil sands development, and climate change on the ecology and hydrology of the Peace–Athabasca Delta that could negatively impact the site’s Outstanding Universal Value. The petition also noted concerns regarding environmental legislation, regulatory tools, and monitoring programs. A number of high-profile Canadian NGOs and experts supported the petition.
• In response to the petition, the World Heritage Committee requested that Canada: (1) invite a reactive monitoring mission (completed in 2016) to assess the state of conservation of the site; (2) undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (completed in 2018) to assess the potential of current and future development on the Outstanding Universal Value of the site; and (3) develop an Action Plan for the Site to ensure that the Outstanding Universal Value of the Site is maintained (completed in 2019).
WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK’S WORLD HERITAGE INSCRIPTION
• Wood Buffalo National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1983, based on its Outstanding Universal Value related to the following criteria:
(vii) Great concentrations of migratory wildlife and rare and superlative natural phenomena (large inland delta, salt plains and gypsum karst) that are internationally significant.

(ix) Most ecologically complete and largest example of the entire Great Plains Boreal grassland ecosystem of North America, the only place where the predator-prey relationship between wolves and wood bison has continued, unbroken, over time.

(x) Contains the only breeding habitat in the world for the whooping crane, an endangered species brought back from the brink of extinction through careful management of the small number of breeding pairs in the park. The park’s size (4.5 million hectares), complete ecosystems and protection are essential for in situ conservation of the whooping crane.
• The Government of Canada has worked closely with the governments of Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories and Indigenous partners of Wood Buffalo National Park to develop the Action Plan. The plan outlines 142 actions that will ensure the on-going protection of the Site’s Outstanding Universal Value. This collaboration continues in the on-going implementation phase.
• In July 2019, the World Heritage Committee adopted a decision on the state of conservation of Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site and did not inscribe it on the List of World Heritage in Danger. This decision commended the actions that have been taken to strengthen protection and management of the Site. The World Heritage Committee noted the comprehensiveness of the Action Plan and urged Canada to ensure its full implementation.
• The Government of Canada is required to report back to the World Heritage Committee on implementation by December 1, 2020.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office