XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: bc.politics   
   From: {~_~}@nyet.ca   
      
   CBC News Posted: May 02, 2014   
      
   Gros Morne oil fracking plan leads UNESCO to seek buffer zone   
      
      
      
   The international body that made Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park   
   a world heritage site could strip the designation if the park isn't   
   better protected from oil exploration.   
      
   UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural arm, is recommending Canada put in   
   place a buffer zone around the park. The move comes following a so-far   
   failed attempt to use the controversial technique of hydraulic   
   fracturing, or fracking, near Gros Morne.   
      
   The UN group wants a specific buffer zone around the park's boundaries   
   that would close it off to all natural resource extraction.   
      
   That's what the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (C-PAWS) has been   
   calling for. "We really think a carefully designed buffer zone would be   
   a huge step towards making the park well protected from   
   industrialization in the long term," said Alison Woodley, director of   
   parks with C-PAWS.   
      
   Gros Morne, on Newfoundland's west coast, has been a world heritage site   
   for more than 25 years because of its beauty and unique geological   
   features, which have contributed to better global understanding of plate   
   tectonics.   
      
   UNESCO is urging Canada to impose a buffer zone around the boundaries of   
   Gros Morne National Park to protect it from resource exploration. (CBC)   
      
   But last year, UNESCO expressed fears about plans for fracking a few   
   hundred metres from the park's boundary.   
   Moratorium in place   
      
   In November, the provincial government instituted a moratorium on all   
   fracking after some study, and a public outcry.   
      
   Still, there were local people who wanted to see some resource   
   development in the area — not just tourism.   
      
   Sue Rendell, with Gros Morne Adventures and the NL Fracking Awareness   
   Network, is not one of them. The veteran outfitter says UNESCO is   
   showing leadership with its formal recommendation.   
      
   "You know, it is a great little success story in a rural area in Canada,   
   and there's not a lot of rural areas in Canada, unfortunately, that have   
   similar success stories," said Rendell.   
      
   The buffer zone recommended by UNESCO is now automatic in all new world   
   heritage sites.   
      
   "I'm certainly really happy to hear that news," she said, adding she   
   hopes Canada will follow suit as soon as possible.   
      
   UNESCO, meanwhile, is recommending its world heritage committee adopt   
   the recommendation for a buffer zone when the committee meets in Doha,   
   Qatar next month.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)