The world’s second largest national park is currently encircled by a destructive combination of climate changes and hydroelectric and oil and gas development projects. The rising risks of Wood Buffalo National Park come ahead with the report released from the desk of Canadian Government. The Wood Buffalo National Park straddles Alberta and the north-western territories. This national park was enlisted under the UNESCO’s endangered lists declared in the year 2017. The Canadian Government was allotted a time-frame of about one year to come up with a solution for the same.
The United Nations body warns, “Inaction would constitute a case for recommending inscription of Wood Buffalo national park on the List of World Heritage in Danger”.
The federal government’s report confirms, “Desired outcomes for the world heritage values are not being met.” Meanwhile, a meeting of UNESCO is scheduled in this week at Bahrain.
Wood Buffalo National Park stretches over a land of about 4.5m hectares. Earlier, it was known to home the indigenous people of Cree and Dene.
World’s second largest national park also represents critical habitat for the free-roaming buffalo population of the world. It also glorifies its presence as the only breeding ground for whooping cranes. These whooping cranes to are listed in the category of endangered species.
Wood Buffalo National Park received its title of World Heritage site in the year 1983. It is inclusive of the delta of the world’s largest boreal river. The Peace and the Athabasca rivers form the delta. Both the Peace and Athabasca rivers are known to cross the Wood Buffalo National Park. These rivers are responsible for the favourable climatic conditions for an incredibly diverse ecosystem.
