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The Kananaskis 2002 G8 Legacy - A Case Study in Delivering an Ecological Integrity Enhancement Project in a Fractured Landscape
Dr. Bruce F. Leeson |
When Canada’s Prime Minister announced the 2002 G8
Summit would be held in Kananaskis Country in Alberta,
immediate concern arose for the potential adverse
environmental impact that might result to this cherished
area.
For the first time ever, a Director of Environmental
Affairs was appointed to participate in planning the G8
Summit 2002. Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade prepared a Strategic Environmental
Assessment of the overall project to identify sensitive
species, spaces and times and to inform all other
planning.
The G8 Kananaskis 2002 Summit environmental program had
five major components:
1. Environmental Planning and Impact Assessment
2. EnviroSafe Training
3. Green Meetings
4. Outreach and Consultation – Envirostakeholders
5. Environmental Legacy
The Kananaskis G8 Summit meeting was accomplished with
virtually no residual adverse environmental effect. The
G8 environmental legacy is a commitment by the
Government of Canada to undertake a project in
Kananaskis Country that would address a current
environmental enhancement need and have lasting benefit.
A committee of local officials and stakeholders chose a
project to alleviate habitat fragmentation for large
transient wildlife in the lower Bow Valley as the most
pressing need and enduring benefit. A $3 million budget,
with the intention to grow this amount with partners,
was entrusted to Parks Canada to deliver the project.
Partners have since made contributions valued at nearly
one million dollars.
The project – a wildlife bridge over a canal, a wildlife
underpass under the TransCanada Highway, and seven
kilometers of wildlife fencing -- will be near
completion in fall 2004.
The difficulties to deliver the G8 Legacy project in a
setting of controversy and of scientific, economic,
social, political and multi-jurisdictional complexity
have been exceptional. The case study will discuss the
challenges encountered, lessons learned, accomplishments
achieved and prospects anticipated. |
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