Decision : CONF 002 VIII
SOC: Wood Buffalo National Park (Canada)
Wood Buffalo National Park (Canada)
The Committee recalled that logging was permitted within this site and that as many as 3,200 of the Park's bison population were affected by brucellosis and tuberculosis. The Committee was satisfied to note that forestry regulations are now more strictly enforced by the Canadian Park Service personnel and that negotiations are underway to terminate logging rights before their official expiry in the year 2002. The Committee recognized that the large size of a site is no longer a guarantee for the conservation of this site and development activities in upstream areas of the Peace/Athabasca Rivers threaten the integrity of this Park. The Committee noted that a river basin assessment study was now underway with support from Canada's Green Plan and the Alberta Provincial Government. The Committee urged the Canadian authorities to make special efforts, both within the Park and throughout its entire drainage basin, in order to retain and restore the site's integrity. The Committee acknowledged that the conservation of Wood Buffalo National Park is, in many ways, a test case for conservation of large remote reserves, such as the World Heritage sites of Yellowstone (USA), Banc D'Arguin (Mauritania) and Serengeti (Tanzania), and had the potential to demonstrate lessons that will be applicable elsewhere.
Decisions Report1991 Wood Buffalo National Park
