News

World Environment Day - June 5th
Designated by the United Nations to stimulate political action on the environment.

Clean Air Day - June 3rd
Participate in activities that contribute to clean air and action on climate change.

Oceans Day - June 8th
An international celebration that raises awareness about the critical role of oceans.

Rivers to Oceans Week - June 8th to 14th
Raise awareness and protect Canada's watersheds for our communities and wildlife.

Commuter Challenge - May 31st to June 6th
A nationwide competition among organizations to see who gets the highest percentage of employees to walk, cycle, carpool or take public transit to work.

The legally binding emission targets are the first of their kind and will keep the UK on track towards its long-term goal of cutting emissions 80 percent by 2050. The carbon budgeting system caps emissions over five-year periods. Carbon budget levels have been released for the first 15 years.

As part of the 2009 Budget, the government has promised significant investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and sets out measures designed to help low-carbon industries. The Committee on Climate Change will revise the targets once the international agreement is reached at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, December 2009.

"Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment and our quality of life than it has ever been before," said President Obama.

Over the next decade, Obama has pledged to double funding for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Over 400 indigenous people from 80 countries met in Anchorage, Alaska to develop a final Declaration to be presented to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark this December.

John Crump, polar issues coordinator with the United Nations Environmental Programme, said indigenous rights will be recognized in any climate change protocols adopted by the United Nations. But specifics on how that would work have yet to be determined.

The California Air Resources Board adopted the standard to reduce carbon pollution, create a larger market for cleaner fuels and encourage innovation. Other U.S. states are following suit and committing to developing regional Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

"With California's new fuel standard in place, and President Obama's recent announcement of mandated fuel efficiency standards, barriers to Manitoba's new fuel efficiency standard are gone. It's time for Manitoba to act," commented Gaile Whelan Enns, director of Manitoba Wildlands.

The new California standard accounts for all carbon emissions created by extracting, growing, manufacturing, distributing and refining fuels. Environmental groups praise this comprehensive "well-to-wheel" approach for gasoline, diesel, and biofuels, including land and fertilizer intensive corn-ethanol.

Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) will raise matching funds from other government and private contributors for a potential benefit of $21 million for lands protection in Manitoba.

• investing $7 million for the NCC to acquire and preserve lands over the next five years in eight areas in southern Manitoba;
• expanding Manitoba's protected area network by adding more than 2,200 hectares of privately owned NCC land under an updated memorandum of agreement;
• expanding Pinawa Dam Provincial Park by 168 hectares.

"This Earth Day announcement by Manitoba's government was welcome. We suggest that our government announce another $7 million to fulfill commitments for boreal forest regions protected areas establishment," commented Gaile Whelan Enns, director of Manitoba Wildlands.

An estimated 100,000 aboriginal children were taken from their families and forced to abandon language, customs and religion. The purpose of the visit with the Pope was to discuss the legacy of the Indian residential schools era and need for reconciliation.

"We wanted to hear him say that he understands, that he is sorry, and that he feels our suffering, and we heard that very clearly," said Assembly of First Nation's grand chief Phil Fontaine, himself a former Indian residential school student. "Today's expression of understanding, acknowledgement and emotion by His Holiness, on behalf of the Catholic Church, closes the circle."

Residential schools were established and paid for by the Canadian government, starting in the late 1800s, but were administered by various church organizations. The Canadian government, and the Anglican, United and Presbyterian churches have also all issued apologies.

The province is working towards an approach that balances conservation, development objectives and Aboriginal and treaty rights. Aboriginal communities will be able to prohibit mining in areas considered sensitive, culturally significant, or areas that do not conform with their own land use plans. The legislation insures land use plans are in place before new mines are developed.

The Liberal government has committed $40 million over three years for initiatives to support updating the Mining Act, building on commitments made last July to conserve more than 50 percent of Ontario's Far North region from development.

• Projected reductions in GHGs between 2008-2012 are overstated
• Government is not able to monitor actual reductions resulting from some measures, and acknowledges it lacks such a monitoring system
• Canada's climate change plans are missing other information required by the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, including total national greenhouse gas emission level comparisons with Canada's Kyoto target, or whether measures under the plan were put in place on time

The Pembina Institute, a non-partisan sustainable energy think tank, responded to the report by calling for Canada to signal to the world it is ready to move forward with an ambitious approach to emissions reductions. Pembina Institute urged Environment Minister Jim Prentice to initiate the legal process to cap Canadian emissions before the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, December 2009.

The Federal Court of Canada ruled the government must publicly report mining pollution data from 2006 onward to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI). The national database details industrial and commercial pollutants released into the air, water and land.

"The court has unequivocally upheld the right of Canadians to know when the health of their communities and environment is under threat from one of the country's largest sources of toxic pollution," said Ecojustice lawyer Marlene Cashin.

Ecojustice filed the lawsuit in 2007 on behalf of Great Lakes United and Mining Watch Canada. The suit alleged the government broke the law by failing to collect and report pollutant information under the NPRI. Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the government will comply with the court's ruling.

Leading environmental groups accuse Canada's government of failing to deliver a real plan. The latest national greenhouse gas inventory from Environment Canada, including data filed with the United Nations, showed emissions are on a significant growth trajectory and are 33.8 percent above Canada's Kyoto commitment.

"Countries are working hard to complete a new global climate treaty by year's end, but Canada is still coming to the table empty-handed," adds Matthew Bramley, climate change director with The Pembina Institute.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the government will reveal the regulations sometime before the UN conference in Copenhagen December 2009. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking significant steps to regulate emissions while debate rages about a US cap and trade system. The Australian government is planning to implement a cap-and-trade system, while Britian is beginning annual carbon budgets.

The time has come for Manitoba to grant permanent protection of the Asatiwisipe Aki Traditional Lands under the Manitoba Parks Act, as requested by the Poplar River First Nation in 1999 and 2005. These boreal traditional lands are also part of a potential 10.6 million-acre World Heritage Site (WHS) in Manitoba and Ontario.

The WHS site would include two provincial parks in addition to the traditional territories of involved First Nations. Poplar River First Nation -- the first community to complete its land use plan -- is still waiting to have its decision to permanently protect two million acres of this pristine boreal forest confirmed.