The status of Canada’s largest park as a world heritage site remains wobbly after a United Nations body expressed grave doubts about a federal plan to rescue it. In 2014, the Mikisew Cree asked UNESCO to examine the park and see if it still merited designation as a World Heritage Site. Since that report, Alberta has also created a series of wildland areas around most of the park as a buffer zone. It also points out that ongoing oilsands development upstream from the park is of “serious concern.”The report notes Teck Frontier’s oilsands mine would move development closer to the park. Kecia Kerr of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society said the UNESCO decision is serious business.

Source: National Post June 13, 2019 17:48 UTC