'We're just frustrated': Missed UNESCO deadline a setback for Wood Buffalo National Park, advocates say

Advocates in northern Alberta and the N.W.T. say a missed deadline regardingCanada's largest national park means the federal government is not taking its conservation seriously.

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) gave Parks Canada until Dec. 1to submit a progress report on conservation efforts in Wood Buffalo National Park. The report will be used to figure out whether or not the park is at risk of losing its designation as a World Heritage Site.

As of the date of publication, the report has not yet been submitted.

Wood Buffalo National Park covers almost 45,000 square kilometres of land in northeast Alberta and southern N.W.T.

They can't get reports in on time, they can't implement an action plan. It's clearly concerning.- Melody Lepine, Mikisew Cree First Nation's director of government and industry relations

Eleven Indigenous groups on both sides of the N.W.T.Alberta border work with Parks Canada on the survival of the park, including theMikisew Cree First Nation.

Melody Lepine, the First Nation's director of government and industry relations, says they were "not surprised" when they found out the report would be delayed.

"We're just frustrated," Lepine told CBC. "We've been seeing this for decades."

They can't get reports in on time. They can't implement an action plan it's clearly concerning."

A statement from Parks Canada says they are still "finalizing" the report and expect to submit it "shortly."

"We remain committed to protecting Wood Buffalo National Park," the statement reads. "We will continue to implement it to ensure the park remains a treasured place for generations to come."

Parks Canada did not respond to a request for more information about why the deadline was missed and what the new deadline is.

'It's embarrassing on a global scale'

Wood Buffalo National Park is the traditional territory of 11 Indigenous groups in Alberta and the N.W.T., who rely on the water and wildlife for their people's well-being.

The park is also important from an ecological point of view: it's home to one of the world's largest freshwater deltas, the continent's biggest population of wild bison and is the world's only breeding ground for the endangered whooping crane.

Still, the land has been deteriorating for a long time. In 2014, Lepine said the Mikisew Cree launched a petition, asking UNESCO to review the park's status as a world heritage site.

UNESCO's latest report in 2019 concluded that the park's "outstanding universal value" was at risk because of climate change, upstream hydroelectric developments and resource extraction.

• Mikisew Cree want Wood Buffalo National Park put on UNESCO 'in danger' list
• UN says Canada's plan to rescue Wood Buffalo National Park not enough

The report also said that, if Canada doesn't commit to conserving Wood Buffalo, it could be placed on the list of endangered world heritage sites.

Gillian Chow-Fraser, the boreal project manager for CPAWS Northern Alberta, said the park's designation is a "really big deal" because it's a recognition from the international community that the park is extraordinary.

She said Canada needs to start treating it that way.

"To have the possibility of having it listed as a world heritage site in danger, is really kind of embarrassing on a global scale," she told CBC.

Action plan 'stalled'

Chow-Fraser, Lepine and leaders from the N.W.T. sent a joint letter to the director of UNESCO's world heritage committee on Dec. 2, the day after Canada's latest conservation report was supposed to be due.

The letter is a way of updating UNESCO on the promises Canada made in their 2019 action plan to protect Wood Buffalo National Park, Chow-Fraser said.

"Our on-the-ground perspective is that progress on several critical pieces of the Action Plan have stalled," the letter reads.

The federal government's conservation plan has 142 points, including actions to enhance research, monitoring, and management of the park with its Indigenous partners.

Conservation progress will be evaluated mid-2021

On its website, Parks Canada lists a series of projectsit hasstarted in Wood Buffalo National Park since the action plan was released in 2019. One example is new legislation that changes the way major projects are reviewed and approved, with the goal of getting more feedback from Indigenous groups and the public.

But there are other areas, Lepine said, where there is limited or no progress.

For example, she said the federal government has already studied water control technologies in the park but there's no guarantee for when those systems will be put in place or how much money they will dedicate to them.

These technologies would help spread water to parts of the park facing drought, she said.

"We're like, 'OK, just get it done,'" Lepine said. "The [Peace-Athabasca] Delta is drying, here's an opportunity for you to show the world heritage committee that you can get one significant piece of the action plan done."

The letter also asks the federal governmentto study the risks of releasing treated tailing waters from oilsands projects into the Athabasca River a suggestion in line with UNESCO'srecommendations.

Chow-Fraser said the federal government hasn't committed to that yet.

Canada's conservation progress will be evaluated by UNESCO's world heritage committee at their next meeting in Fuzhou, China in summer 2021.