Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, Toronto
3 September, 2012
Watershed covers roughly 20 percent of Canada, including oil sands;
The Mackenzie may discharge more water into the Arctic than the St. Lawrence into the Atlantic
The governance of Canada’s massive Mackenzie River Basin holds enormous national but also global importance due to the watershed’s impact on the Arctic Ocean, international migratory birds and climate stability, say experts convening a special forum on the topic.
“Relevant parties in western Canada have recognized the need for a multi-party transboundary agreement that will govern land and water management in the Mackenzie River watershed. Successful collaboration will effectively determine the management regime for a watershed covering 1.8 million square kilometers or about 20 percent of Canada – an area roughly three times the size of France – and include the country’s vast oil sands,” says University of California Prof. Henry Vaux, Chair of the Rosenberg Forum, which meets Sept. 5-7 at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University with the support of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation.
The Forum’s goals include identifying legal and scientific principles relevant to the processes leading ultimately to a coordinated basin-wide approach to management, as well as prioritizing knowledge gaps.
News release in full, click here
Coverage by:
Reuters, click here
The Canadian Press, click here
Agencia EFE, click here
PresseText, click here
Coverage summary, click here