Few places on our planet have been untouched by modern humans. Our natural world has been fragmented by ever-expanding towns and cities, criss-crossed with roads and pipelines and pockmarked by infrastructure used to drill, frack and strip-mine.
The need to supply food, fibre, fuels, shelter and fresh water to more than six billion people is driving the wholesale conversion of our ecosystems. Researchers have discovered that farmland and pasture now cover 40 per cent of Earth’s land surface. The environmental consequences have been severe in some regions, resulting in the loss of wildlife habitat and degraded water quality.
Canada’s rugged and inaccessible terrain, small population and relatively recent history of development have spared us from the scale and intensity of land-use change that many other regions have experienced. A review of the state of Canada’s forests and woodlands by Global Forest Watch Canada found that about half of Canada’s forests are still intact. Most are found in the greenbelt of northern boreal forest.
One of the largest areas of untouched boreal wilderness left in the world straddles Eastern Manitoba and Northern Ontario. The local Anishinabe First Nation calls this 43,000-square-kilometre region Pimachiowin Aki, which means “the land that gives life.”
Pimachiowin Aki has remained more or less unchanged for some 5,000 years. It is the very absence of clear-cuts, mines, hydroelectric dams and other industrial infrastructure, along with the region’s rich cultural landscape, that makes Pimachiowin Aki so exceptional, and it is for this reason that First Nations communities want to protect it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As Sophia Rabliauskas, a Pimachiowin Aki spokesperson, says: “As First Nations, we already know the value of this land.… Now we want our neighbours, people who live in cities and people around the world to understand just how important it is.”
Fortunately, the Manitoba government has listened and is working with First Nations to protect the area for its unparalleled ecological and cultural richness. However, obtaining international recognition for Pimachiowin Aki is no easy task. The Manitoba government has had to make difficult decisions to sustain the ecological integrity of the region. Most notably, they decided to reroute a planned multi-billion dollar hydro transmission line away from the area.
Many environmental groups and scientists, including the David Suzuki Foundation, support the government’s difficult decision. We believe Pimachiowin Aki must be protected as a special place where rivers run wild, caribou roam unfettered by industrial development and the centuries-old values of its indigenous peoples are honoured and respected.
Post City Magazines’ environmental columnist, David Suzuki, is the host of the CBC’s The Nature of Things. David is also the author of more than 30 books on ecology.