Tag Archives: UNESCO

UN scientists call for end to mining in Canadian Flathead

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This week’s Hungry Horse News has a decent write-up on the UN World Heritage Committee scientific mission report on threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .

Scientists from the United Nations are calling for a moratorium on mining in the Canadian Flathead, just north of Glacier National Park.

Last fall Paul Dingwall, a New Zealand scientist with the World Conservation Union and the World Wide Fund for Nature, and Keshore Rao, deputy director of the United Nation’s World Heritage Center, toured Glacier and Waterton Parks as well as the Canadian Flathead. They wanted to see for themselves the potential impacts of proposed coal, coal bed methane and gold mines in Canada on the Park.

“Their basic conclusion is they have no doubt that mining is incompatible,” with the park, said Stephen Morris, chief of international affairs for the National Parks Service.

Read the entire article . . .

Canadian press coverage of UN report on mining threats to Waterton-Glacier

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Canadian press coverage of the World Heritage scientific mission report on threats to Waterton-Glacier Park is a bit more thorough than the articles posted in local papers. Not surprising, since the report primarily targets proposed resource extraction activities in the Canadian Flathead.

Here are a couple examples. Both are recommended reading for anyone interested in this issue.

From the Vancouver Sun . . .

A United Nations report has recommended a moratorium on mining in the controversial Flathead Valley of southeastern B.C. and development of a comprehensive transboundary conservation and wildlife management plan for the area, a U.S. official revealed Thursday.

Stephen Morris, chief of international affairs for the National Park Service, said in an interview from Washington, D.C., that he has received a copy of a fact-finding mission report by two UN world heritage representatives who visited the area in September.

Read the entire article . . .

And from the Lethbridge Herald . . .

No mining activity in the Flathead Valley is safe mining activity when it comes to protecting the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, suggests a UNESCO report now in the hands of federal government officials in Canada and the U.S.

“I don’t want to get into too much of the detail, but the overriding recommendation is that in the view of the mission, they see mining in the Flathead watershed as creating unacceptable impacts on the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site, and they don’t think there’s a compromise position,” said Stephen Morris, head of the international affairs office for the U.S. National Park Service.

Read the entire article . . .

UN scientists urge stop to mining near Glacier National Park

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Today’s Missoulian has more information on the report by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee scientific mission regarding threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .

An international team of UNESCO scientists has recommended a moratorium on mining north of Glacier National Park, a conclusion that echoes the longstanding sentiment of locals on both sides of the border.

“Their conclusions were very sweeping,” said Stephen Morris, “in that there is no possibility whatsoever of proceeding with mining in the Canadian Flathead without having substantial impacts on the World Heritage Site.”

Read the entire article . . .

UN world heritage team report recommends moratorium on Flathead mining

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Although not yet officially published, the report of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee scientific mission sent last September to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier Park is in circulation.

The Associated Press broke the story . . .

U.N. scientists have recommended a moratorium on mining in British Columbia’s Flathead Valley and the creation of a conservation plan for the remote region spanning the United States-Canada border, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Several companies have announced plans to extract coal, natural gas and gold within the Canadian stretch of the valley, which is near Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park and Montana’s Glacier National Park.

But the call for curbs on mining is likely to increase international pressure on Canada to put those plans on hold.

Read the entire article . . .

Follow-up: UNESCO scientific mission to Waterton-Glacier Park

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Although the Missoulian posted some initial coverage of last month’s visit by a U.N. scientific delegation investigating mining and other resource development threats to Waterton-Glacier Park, the only local paper that paid significant attention to the subject was the Hungry Horse News — a fact that slipped past your friendly webweenie.

Herewith are lead-ins and links to the articles published by the Hungry Horse News.

From the September 24th edition . . .

U.N. scientists: Glacier on ‘pedestal’

Two scientists from the United Nations are touring the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and the Canadian Flathead to see for themselves the potential impacts of proposed mines in the region.

“We plan to consult as widely as possible with all stakeholders,” said Paul Dingwall, a New Zealand scientist with the World Conservation Union and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Dingwall and Keshore Rao, deputy director of the United Nation’s World Heritage Center, spent most of Monday holed up in Glacier Park’s community building, hearing report after report about the Park and its native flora and fauna.

Read the entire article . . .

From the October 7th edition . . .

Scientists here say they made an impression on U.N.

After a solid week of meetings and tours, American scientists and conservationists feel good about their recent visit with a delegation from the United Nations.

Read the entire article . . .

B.C. mining proposals threaten U.S. environmental jewel, enviros will tell UN

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A Canadian Press article posted yesterday evening . . .

Environmentalists say a natural treasure in the United States is threatened by proposed coal and gold mining in southeastern B.C., and they’ll ask United Nations environmental experts later this week to put some pressure on the province to stop the developments.

The UN environmental experts are currently in Montana gathering information about the potential damage B.C. mining proposals could inflict upon Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in that state, a UNESCO World Heritage site and Biosphere Reserve.

Read the entire article . . .

U.N. scientists assess mining threats to Waterton-Glacier Park

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We’re starting to see more complete news coverage of this week’s visit by a U.N. scientific delegation investigating mining and other resource development threats to Waterton-Glacier Park.

The Missoulian posted an excellent article on the first day’s activities very early this morning. Here’s the lead-in . . .

A team of scientists from the United Nations is visiting Glacier National Park, assessing potential threats posed by mining plans in Canadian wildlands upstream of the park.

Glacier, in partnership with adjacent Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, was named a World Heritage Site in 1995; that UNESCO designation recognizes the area’s spectacular natural resources, including its diversity of wildlife and its role as a “biological crossroads.

But several Canadian companies are interested in resources that lie just beyond the two park boundaries – namely coal, gold and coalbed methane. British Columbia’s provincial government already has granted exploration permits in the Canadian Flathead River drainage, which flows south into Montana to form Glacier Park’s western boundary.

Read the entire article . . .

UN officials to visit Glacier Park this week — no details yet

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A UN delegation is scheduled to visit Glacier National Park this week and locations in  the Canadian Flathead as part of UNESCO’s investigation into threats to Waterton-Glacier Park posed by coal mining and other proposed extractive activities. So far, the only recent news is a short, uninformative AP article.

No further information yet. We’ll post coverage as it becomes available.

U.N. officials to visit U.S. & Canadian Flathead next week

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This item appeared in yesterday’s online edition of the Daily Inter Lake. Presumably, we will be getting more details over the next few days . . .

Two scientists from the United Nations will visit Glacier National Park and Canada the week of Sept. 21 to see for themselves the potential impacts of mining in the Canadian Flathead.

The delegates are expected to tour the area the first three days with scientists from Glacier National Park and the Flathead Lake Biological Station. Biological Station scientists have been monitoring water quality in the basin.

The rest of the week the scientists are expected to meet with Canadian officials.

The trip was brought about by a petition earlier this year to have Glacier listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger.

Read the entire article . . .

What the trout tell us

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Dan Testa has an excellent piece in the Flathead Beacon discussing trout studies in the North Fork — on both sides of the border — and the general importance of this sort of baseline study in connection with the upcoming UNESCO scientific mission to study threats to Waterton-Glacier Park.

Here’s a sampler . . .

The research of these scientists is likely to be heavily relied upon by members of a United Nations fact-finding mission arriving in the region some time in the next year to determine whether Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park should be designated a “World Heritage Site in Danger.” The unanimous June vote in Seville, Spain, by a 21-country panel of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) could mean widespread attention will once again be drawn to the issue of threats from mining and drilling operations in southeastern British Columbia along the headwaters of the North Fork, which serves as the western boundary of Glacier National Park.

Read the entire article . . .