UNESCO Inspection Underway as Wood Buffalo National Park Faces Threats to World Heritage Status
Wood Buffalo National Park, spanning parts of the Northwest Territories and northern Alberta, is facing threats to its World Heritage Site status. A UN monitoring team has been inspecting progress on a Parks Canada action plan to save the park.
The inspection is the third since concerns from Indigenous communities arose over a decade ago. The 2022 visit resulted in 17 recommendations from UNESCO, but Chief Melody Lepine of the Mikisew Cree First Nation says not much has changed.
She and others are concerned about dams on rivers that lead into the park, industrial tailings emptying into those rivers, and political decision-making around water safety. The recent announcement of a proposed oil pipeline from Alberta to the nation's west coast is particularly striking, given the governments' inability to agree on how to help the park.
The action plan assigned $87 million to defend the park against threats ranging from climate change to industrial pollution. An additional $90 million was committed in 2026 to extend work over five years. But Chief Lepine wants the monitoring mission to conclude that the park is endangered, saying 'The site is in danger... and now Canada and Alberta are adding more threats.'