For the first time in 12 years, the provincial government plans to review the current water rights system on how water is allocated in the province, and more importantly, who gets access. In a province where big industry lives strong, it is very important that we as non-millionaires make sure our water rights, and the water rights of our lakes and rivers are protected. Read more »
Many communities in Alberta are feeling the heat from a variety different resource extractive industries - coal, oil, gas, tar sands, nuclear, etc. For the most part these industries come under the guise as energy and job providers, but in reality the burden of the toxic legacy they will leave on the land, water, and community far outweighs any short-term job benefits. In Alberta, oil and gas extraction actually produces the least amount of jobs per dollar invested compared to health care, education, construction and transportation. Read more »
The Lower Athabasca Region contains some of Alberta's most pristine wilderness. By contrast, it is also home to Alberta's oil sands — making it the most immediately threatened landscape in the province.
CPAWS is appealing to the government to protect at least 50% of the Region from industry and for wildlife and traditional public uses.
Watered down Wetlands Policy threaten water, air, and land security for the province.
"Wetlands provide substantial ecological
services that would cost billions if we had to achieve them through other means.
Wetlands store and purify supply freshwater; act as carbon sinks; and, support
plants and wildlife. Wetlands can filter out from 80 to 770
kilograms of phosphorus per hectare per year. They can also filter out from 350
to 32,000 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year. It is
estimated that Alberta’s peatland-wetland systems store up to 13.75 billion
tonnes of carbon." www.water-matters.org
Alberta
does not have a wetlands policy to protect Wetlands in the tar sands region.
Since 2003, the public of Alberta has been engaged on developing a policy to
address this gap and finally after years of deliberation, and public
consultation, the Alberta Water Council put forward a proposed policy to the AB Government.
Read more »
As you’ve likely seen in the news, CPAWS is warning that Boreal
woodland caribou in Alberta’s oil sands region will perish unless the
province moves to protect at least half of this area’s intact forests
and wetlands.
Since
1993, nearly half of the Boreal woodland caribou in the area where the
oil sands industry is concentrated have disappeared. You can make a difference. Please sign the petition now to protect at least 50% of Alberta’s Lower Athabasca planning region.
This
region, part of CPAWS’s Athabasca Heartland campaign, contains some of
the most pristine wilderness in the province. It’s threatened by heavy
industrial development, including Alberta’s oil sands.