February 16, 2006

IELP petitions international committee to list Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as a World Heritage Site in Danger due to climate change

On February 16, 2006, the International Environmental Law Project (IELP) petitioned the World Heritage Committee to list Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as a World Heritage Site in Danger due to the effects of climate change.

On February 16, 2006, the International Environmental Law Project (IELP), a legal clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, petitioned the World Heritage Committee to list Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as a World Heritage Site in Danger due to the effects of climate change on behalf of 12 conservation groups from Canada and the United States. Climate change is causing the rapid disappearance of the park’s glaciers and significant damage to the park’s vegetation and wildlife.

“The effects of climate change are well-documented and clearly visible in Glacier National Park, and yet the United States has not taken action to protect the world heritage of the park by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to its obligations under the World Heritage Convention,” notes Erica Thorson, a clinical professor with the International Environmental Law Project (IELP) at Lewis & Clark Law School and lead author of the Petition.

The Petition comes on the first year anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol going into effect, the landmark international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which entered into force on February 16, 2005 without the participation of the United States. If Waterton-Glacier is listed as World Heritage in Danger, the Committee must develop, in consultation with Canada and the United States, a program of corrective measures to address the effects of global warming in the Park.

The World Heritage Committee was established by the World Heritage Convention, an international treaty to protect natural and cultural sites of outstanding universal value. At the request of the United States and Canada, the Committee listed Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (Canada’s Waterton National Park and the U.S.’s Glacier National Park) as a World Heritage Site in 1995 because of its outstanding scenic value and its unique biological diversity, hydrology, and climate, among other reasons. That listing requires Canada and the United States to protect Waterton-Glacier for future generations and to “do all [they] can” to conserve and protect Waterton-Glacier and other World Heritage Sites within their territories. Additionally, all Parties to the World Heritage Convention have committed to act as a global community to conserve the world’s cultural and natural heritage.

Glacier National Park once boasted approximately 150 glaciers, but only 27 remain, and those are rapidly melting. Global warming, caused by society’s production of greenhouse gases, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, is responsible for the disappearance of the iconic glaciers.

“The glaciers that Glacier National Park was named for will vanish entirely by 2030 if current climate change trends continue,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the Petitioners. “The United States and Canada must immediately reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to slow the damage.”

Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, stand at over 380 parts per million (ppm), up from 280 ppm prior to the Industrial Revolution, and are continuing to rise at over 2 ppm per year. Current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have not been exceeded in the past 420,000 years, and likely not in the past 20 million years. The United States is the world’s leading greenhouse gas polluter, responsible for one quarter of worldwide emissions. Other greenhouse gases include methane (emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil and from the decomposition of organic wastes), nitrous oxide (emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of solid waste and fossil fuels), and other industrial chemicals (including chloroflourocarbons).

Industrialized countries must eventually cut greenhouse pollution by 80% in order to stabilize the rapidly warming climate. Today’s Petition urges the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

“Measures like increasing fuel efficiency for automobiles, increasing energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, and promoting greater energy conservation will make a large dent in emissions while benefiting the economy,” said Ms. Siegel. “There is no excuse for not implementing measures like these immediately.”

The Petition joins four others that will be discussed by a group of experts on climate change and World Heritage Sites at a meeting next month in Paris. Other petitioners have asked the Committee to list the following sites as “in Danger”: Belize Barrier Reef, Huarascán National Park in Peru, Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal, and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Today’s Petition is the first concerning a site within the United States.

“We urge the United States, as the world’s top greenhouse gas polluter, to reduce emissions to help prevent further damage to glaciers and other outstanding values of Waterton-Glacier Park,” said Ms. Thorson.

The groups submitting the petition include the Center for Biological Diversity, David Suzuki Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, Defenders of Wildlife–Canada, Green House Network, ForestEthics, Humane Society International/Humane Society of the United States, Montana Wilderness Association, The Pembina Institute, Wildlands CPR, and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

*Photo by Carl H. Key, USGS

Project Resources

Petition to List Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park as a World Heritage Site in Danger due to Climate Change

Background Document on the Petition and the World Heritage Convention

The Facts about Climate Change

World Heritage Committee decision with commentary from the Climate Justice Programme

Other Resources

See a time-lapse view of retreating glaciers and changing habitat produced by the U.S. Geological Survey.

For photos of retreating glaciers in Glacier National Park, see the following websites of the U.S. Geological Survey: Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park

Climate Justice Programme. The Climate Justice Programme is a coordinated effort among lawyers from around the world who are pursuing legal strategies to address climate change.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assesses scientific, technical, and socio-economic information relevant to the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts, and options for adaptation and mitigation.(As of publication, web site is not working.)

Center for Biological Diversity. Among many other things, the Center for Biological Diversity is using environmental law to address climate change. For example, it petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the polar bear as threatened due to climate change.

David Suzuki Foundation. The Climate Change Program of the David Suzuki Foundation seeks solutions to climate change. Its website also provides many links to other organizations and institutions working on climate change issues.

The Pembina Institute. The Climate Change program of The Pembina Institute advocates for the implementation, by both federal and provincial governments, of policy measures that will secure major reductions in Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Information Administration. The Energy Information Administration, a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, provides policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses. It maintains an extensive website of global warming related information.

Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA maintains an extensive website of climate change related information.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Pew Center on Climate Change.