The Northwest Territories (NWT) is one of the great reserves of wilderness
for North America, and even the world. Despite its remote geography, however,
the NWT is becoming a major centre for industrial development activity. The
increasing pace and scale of this development is threatening the integrity
of the Territory’s taiga, tundra, and boreal ecosystems. In particular,
Mackenzie Valley Pipeline is moving closer to becoming a reality and as
so will be one of the largest energy development project in Canadian history.
The environmental and regulatory process has begun and completion of this
process and pipeline construction is anticipated to be finished within five
years.
To achieve a long-term balance of ecological, cultural, and economic
values in the Mackenzie Valley, a network of culturally significant and
ecologically representative protected areas must be reserved before or concurrently
with the development of the pipeline. Needed is immediate planning and action
to meet this objective within a timeframe that is relevant to communities,
governments, industry, and First Nations. There is a unique, although time-limited
opportunity, in the Mackenzie Valley to maintain the existing ecological
integrity and natural connections.
The Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy (NWT-PAS) provides
a community-based tool for advancing culturally and ecologically significant
areas to long-term protected status. The Five-Year NWT-PAS AP (Protected
Areas Strategy Action Plan) describes the strategic enhancement needed over
the next five years to identify, review, establish interim protection, and
evaluate a network of protected areas in the Mackenzie Valley.
Round River has been invited to assist with the PAS--to help lead a team
of experts and stakeholders from government, industry, First Nations, and
environmental NGO’s in identifying and mapping high priority conservation
areas for the Strategy. Starting in late 2004, Round River began supporting
analyses and team coordination to meet both near and far term PAS Action
Plan goals. Specific objectives in the coming year include:
Developing workplans, organizing technical sub-teams, and managing process
and product development;
Supporting ecosystem and wildlife habitat modeling efforts; and
Reviewing, designing, and building effective
tools for integrating ecological and human use information to inform scenario
building and progress toward ecological goals for the PAS.
In 2005, Round River successfully completed an initial ecological assessment
for the Mackenzie River Valley. The work, though preliminary, has provided
an important injection of scientific analysis into the debate about conservation
goals and strategies in advance of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline. However,
we believe that a great deal more action is required in the Mackenzie and
significant gaps in capacity, resources, and information exists between
communities, scientists, NGO’s, and the funding community. Round
River continues to look carefully at the NWT to better evaluate how it can
play a strategic role in bridging those gaps.