Groups Petition
International Committee to List Waterton-Glacier International Peace
Park as World Heritage Site in Danger
February 17, 2006 — By the Center for Biological Diversity
PORTLAND, Ore. — Today, 12 conservation organizations from the United
States and Canada petitioned the World Heritage Committee to add
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park to the List of World Heritage
Sites in Danger due to impacts from climate change. Climate change is
causing rapid disappearance of the park's glaciers and significant
damage to the park's vegetation and wildlife.
"The effects of climate change are well-documented and clearly visible
in Glacier National Park, and yet the United States has not taken action
to protect the world heritage of the park by reducing its greenhouse gas
emissions pursuant to its obligations under the World Heritage
Convention," notes Erica Thorson, a clinical professor with the
International Environmental Law Project (IELP) at Lewis & Clark Law
School and lead author of the petition.
Today's petition comes on the first anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol,
the landmark international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas pollution,
which entered into force on February 16, 2005 without the participation
of the United States. If Waterton-Glacier is listed as a World Heritage
Site in Danger, the World Heritage Committee must develop, in
consultation with Canada and the United States, a program of corrective
measures to address the effects of climate change in the park.
The World Heritage Committee was established by the World Heritage
Convention, an international treaty to protect natural and cultural
sites of outstanding universal value. At the request of the United
States and Canada, the Committee listed Waterton-Glacier International
Peace Park (Canada's Waterton National Park and the U.S.'s Glacier
National Park) as a World Heritage Site in 1995 because of its
outstanding scenic value and its unique glaciers, biological diversity,
hydrology and climate, among other reasons. That listing requires Canada
and the United States to protect Waterton-Glacier for future generations
and to "do all (they) can" to conserve and protect Waterton-Glacier and
other World Heritage Sites within their territories. Additionally, all
parties to the World Heritage Convention have committed to act as a
global community to conserve the world's cultural and natural heritage.
Glacier National Park once boasted approximately 150 glaciers, but only
27 remain, and those are rapidly melting. Global warming is responsible
for the disappearance of the park's iconic glaciers.
"The glaciers that Glacier National Park was named for will vanish
entirely by 2030 if current climate change trends continue," said Kassie
Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the petitioners.
"The United States and Canada must immediately reduce their greenhouse
gas emissions to slow the damage."
Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, stand at
over 380 parts per million (ppm), up from 280 ppm prior to the
Industrial Revolution, and are continuing to rise at over two ppm per
year. Current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have not been
exceeded in the past 420,000 years, and likely not in the past 20
million years. The United States is the world's leading greenhouse gas
polluter, responsible for one-quarter of worldwide emissions.
Today's petition urges the United States to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions to protect Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Industrialized countries must eventually cut greenhouse pollution by 80
percent in order to stabilize the rapidly warming climate.
"Measures like increasing fuel efficiency for automobiles, increasing
energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, and promoting
greater energy conservation will make a large dent in emissions while
benefiting the economy," said Ms. Siegel. "There is no excuse for not
implementing measures like these immediately."
The petition joins four others that will be discussed by a group of
experts on climate change and World Heritage Sites at a meeting next
month in Paris. Other petitioners have asked the World Heritage
Committee to list the following sites as "in Danger": Belize Barrier
Reef, Huarascán National Park in Peru, Sagarmatha National Park in
Nepal, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Today's petition is the
first for a site within the United States.
"We urge the United States, as the world's top greenhouse gas emitter,
to reduce emissions to help prevent further damage to glaciers and other
outstanding values of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park," said
Ms. Thorson.
The groups submitting the petition include the Center for Biological
Diversity, David Suzuki Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, Defenders of
Wildlife-Canada, Green House Network, ForestEthics, Humane Society
International/Human Society of the United States, Montana Wilderness
Association, The Pembina Institute, Wildlands CPR, and Yellowstone to
Yukon Conservation Initiative.
A copy of the petition can be downloaded at
http://www.lclark.edu/org/ielp or
www.biologicaldiversity.org.
For a time-lapse view of retreating glaciers and changing habitat
produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, see:
http://www.nrmsc.usgs.gov/research/glacier_model.htm. For photos of
retreating glaciers in Glacier National Park, see:
The photographs from these Web sites are in the public domain (unless
otherwise noted). They can be used provided that proper credit is given
to the U.S. Geological Survey or to Glacier National Park, depending on
which photograph is used. Glacier National Park asks that the park name
be used in the credit. The U.S. Geological Survey asks that the
following credit be given to the use of its photographs:
Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
Department of the Interior/USGS
U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jane Doe (if the photographer/artist is
known)
The full information policy of the U.S. Geological Survey can be found
at:
http://www.usgs.gov/info_policies.html
Contact Info:
Erica Thorson
Clinical Professor of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School
Tel : (503) 768-6715
E-mail :
ejt@lclark.edu
Kassie Siegel
Center for Biological Diversity
Tel : (951) 961-7972
E-mail :
ksiegel@biologicaldiversity.org
Website :
the Center for Biological Diversity
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