The clock is ticking for an Indigenous-led conservation plan to protect the carbon-containing peatlands of Northern Ontario from the threat of Ring of Fire development
The communities, along with Fort Severn and Weenusk First Nations , have hatched a plan to save one of the last vast, untouched areas of the planet from an industry quickly advancing northward to mine critical minerals, blasting through ecologically sensitive areas to do so. They know all too well how hard it is to stop the hungry mouths of the South, with their insatiable need for the resources of the North.
The plan is to establish the Mushkegowuk National Marine Conservation Area, which would be led by folks in the Cree communities of the western James Bay coast along with Fort Severn and Weenusk First Nations. This would protect the entire coastline of Washaybeyoh and Weeneebeg , with a 20-kilometre coastal buffer – a broad area that the communities call Tawich.
The water and the land are tied together; protecting one means protecting the other. And so corresponding action is needed to protect what’s left of the peatlands, because if the carbon they hold is disturbed, that could have global consequences. Efforts to develop the Ring of Fire for mining threaten to do just that, and those efforts are expanding: Currently, there are more than 31,000 mining claims inthat span more than 626,000 hectares, and once staked, those claims can’t be undone.
The Canadian government has said that it will come to the table to protect nearly 86,000 square kilometres, but that the Omushkego vision will require Ontario’s buy-in for the lands it controls – the first three kilometres of the coasts and the 20-kilometre buffer. The good news is that dialogue is happening with the Ontario government, Mr. Martin says. An agreement is crucial, as it would unlock part offour Indigenous-led conservation projects, including the Omushkego plans, in 2022.
Pleasemod Bay Government Ring Ontario Area Fire Cent Plan James Bay Hudson Bay First Nations
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