Nature Canada

Proposed Boundaries Announced for Lancaster Sound National Marine Conservation Area

Source: Parks Canada

On Monday, the Ministers of Environment, Health, Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Natural Resources announced a potential boundary for the long-awaited Lancaster Sound National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) in Nunavut. We are looking forward to engaging in the consultation process to ensure that the final boundaries safeguard this area’s rich biodiversity, and Important Bird Areas (IBA).

In the past we blogged about the Government of Canada’s decision to go ahead with seismic testing in Lancaster Sound (a process known as the Mineral Energy and Resources Assessment (MERA) in which non-renewable resources are identified), despite strong opposition from High Arctic communities, Oceans North Canada, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, and more than 11,000 Canadians. However, a few weeks later a Nunavut court granted an injunction to block the seismic testing, given the negative impacts it would have on the area’s sensitive wildlife and ecosystems and the communities that depend on it.

We are pleased to know that the government has respected the views of the Inuit, and is carrying out an assessment based on already existing information – this means there will be no field studies done, and negative impacts avoided. Under the NMCA Act it is not a requirement to undertake a MERA. However, before an amendment is made to Schedule 1 (where NMCAs are listed or their descriptions changed) of the NMCA Act, results of any assessments for mineral and energy resources that have been undertaken (as per Section 7 (1) (C)) should be included in the report for the proposed marine conservation area or reserve. According to Parks Canada “work is underway to update an ecological overview of Lancaster Sound and an assessment of non-renewable resource potential, using existing information, but enough is known presently to enable announcing a federal position that will lead to discussions with the Government of Nunavut and consultations with local communities to proceed”.

Interim withdrawal of lands beneath the seafloor of the proposed NMCA was the other significant part of the government’s announcement on Monday. During the consultation process “no exploration or development of petroleum resources will occur within the proposed boundaries. Once approved as a designated National Marine Conservation Area, the region will remain protected from industrial development, regardless of the resource potential” said Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis.

Lancaster Sound is located between Devon Island and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada and is home to a large variety of wildlife such as beluga, bowhead whales and harp seals. The region around Lancaster Sound includes bays, inlets and ice fields surrounded by high cliffs and spectacular fjords that stretch from Ellesmere Island to the Gulf of Boothia in the south, to the waters surrounding Cornwallis Island to the west.

This area has one of the highest concentrations of polar bears in the Canadian Arctic. Twenty IBAs are found inside or adjacent to the proposed protected area, providing key high arctic breeding habitat for large colonies of snow geese, ivory gulls, arctic terns and thick-billed murres. Protected areas like the one proposed at Lancaster Sound conserve some of our most important natural spaces, providing Canada and the world with clean air and water, abundant wildlife populations, and healthy communities and ecosystems.

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