Newfoundland and Labrador’s Gros Morne National Park, known for its stunning, sweeping landscape that’s showcased in Canadian tourism ads, may lose its world heritage site designation if it’s not protected from the oil industry.
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization could reconsider Gros Morne’s status if Canada doesn’t take steps to protect the park’s natural beauty and geology. UNESCO might recommend Canada set up a buffer zone around Gros Morne to prevent nearby fracking activities from coming too close and causing it harm. The issue will be up for discussion at UNESCO's next meeting in June.
Alison Woodley, national director of the parks program at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said Canada’s tourism industry would be damaged by the loss of Gros Morne’s world heritage site status.
“That would be an absolute travesty for Canada,” Woodley told CTV News Channel on Friday.
Gros Morne has been a world heritage site since 1987. It’s beloved among tourists for its mountainous, picturesque landscape and valued by geologists as a site for studying the evolution of plate tectonics.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves drilling underground and using fluid under pressure to fracture shale rock and release natural gas. Fracking near Gros Morne could potentially disrupt the natural rock formations there. It could also have environmental impacts above ground.
Woodley said she also recommends establishing a buffer zone around the park to keep fracking away. A buffer zone would be a “win-win” for environmentalists and the tourism industry, Woodley said. “It’s a well-recognized tool that’s used around the world to protect world heritage sites,” she said.
“Industrializing the coastline of Gros Morne would be really incompatible with protecting that incredible natural beauty.”
Newfoundland and Labrador put a moratorium on new fracking applications last November. Woodley said she welcomes the moratorium, but it’s not enough. “That’s not a long-term solution to protecting Gros Morne,” she said.
Woodley said she urges the government to work with local communities to set up a buffer zone. That buffer zone is automatic for all new UNESCO world heritage sites.
