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TheStar.com - Fighting global warming, the First Nations way ----- Original Message ----- From: Russell Diabo To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2004 10:49 AM Subject: Fw: fighting global warming the First Nations way... FYI ----- Original Message ----- From: Karihwakeron To: Russell Diabo Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2004 10:52 AM Subject: fighting global warming the First Nations way... http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1084486208880&call_pageid=971358637177 May 15, 2004. 01:00 AM PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID ISRAELSON Darrell Bruce is a member of the Popular River First Nations, one of 16 in Manitoba that have control over land use planning. Recently, the community rejected a proposed highway. "I think we are a lot safer without a highway," Bruce says. Fighting global warming, the First Nations way Manitoba bands control land use `A chance to stop the destruction' KATE HARRIES ONTARIO REPORTER It's as if the slate had been wiped clean and the people had been asked to take a fresh run at the future. Two years ago, the Manitoba government put land use planning for the east side of Lake Winnipeg - a relatively unspoiled swathe of boreal forest between the lake and the Ontario border - in the hands of 16 First Nations. It was a bold response by the NDP government to pressure from logging companies, part of a broad provincial strategy to fight global warming. The process requires that logging, mining and other resource extraction projects must first be approved by a First Nation before being considered by the province. For the residents of Poplar River, a remote community of 900 people 400 kilometres north of Winnipeg, a world of possibilities has opened up. "We have a chance here to stop the destruction, we have a chance here to change what is happening in the world," Ray Rabliauskas, the band's land management administrator, said at a recent meeting on plans for the future of 862,000 hectares of the natives' traditional territory. "The Creator gave us the land to live on and be strong, he gave us this land to take care of ... They (used to) laugh at us when we talked like that." People also used to laugh at warnings that human activities are changing the atmosphere. But a conference in Toronto this week brought together political and corporate leaders from the U.K., Germany and Australia and Canada who take the issue very seriously. "The science is now irrefutable," says Steve Howard, head of the Climate Group, a newly founded London-based group. What is not certain is the extent and full nature of the devastation that rising water levels and spreading deserts may cause, he says. "Unless we take action, the results could be catastrophic," says John Thwaites, environment minister for Australia's Victoria state, which has suffered through eight years of drought, where farmland is being abandoned and lawn watering has been banned in 200 towns. In Poplar River, Rabliauskas smiles broadly when asked what the plan will provide for in terms of resource extraction. "None whatsoever," he answers. "It's set up to prevent that from happening." A small amount of logging may be permitted to supply a local sawmill, but "it will be done very carefully." A commercial fishery will continue and eco-tourism opportunities are being explored. "We'd like to have our land the same as we had before," says elder Marcel Valiquette, detailing changes over the last few decades - intense heat, extreme winds, green algae blooms on the lake, a decline in the fishery, the disappearance of birds and animals. Scaling down economic expectations takes courage, Rabliauskas says. "There's high unemployment here," he notes. But younger members of the community seem to share the vision. Darrell Bruce, 30, talks of the toll taken by drugs and alcohol. "I think we are a lot safer without a highway," he says, of a rejected proposal to build a road to the community. -------------------------------------------------------------------- `We recognize that what we do here will affect the rest of the world' Ray Rabliauskas, Poplar River First Nations -------------------------------------------------------------------- In Ontario, the Liberal government's commitment to a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by closing its five coal-fired generating plants by 2007 is a slate-cleaning measure that has put the province at a crossroads. The options, put starkly, are nukes or no nukes. In terms of climate change, nuclear power is clean, producing no greenhouse gases, though there's controversy over its true cost and disposal of its toxic waste. It is the course recommended by former federal finance minister John Manley, who headed a study of alternative power sources "It's going to be a hard decision for Ontario to make," says Manitoba Energy Minister Tim Sale. He filled in as keynote speaker at the Climate Group conference after Premier Gary Doer was grounded by an "unprecedented" mid-May snowstorm. Manitoba hopes to sell Ontario some of its "clean" hydro energy, but to do so, needs a massive upgrade to transmission lines between the two provinces. Proposed new hydro-generating projects could deliver as much as 5,000 megawatts - but that falls far short of Ontario's future needs. In a speech to the conference, Ontario Environment Minister Leona Dombrowsky didn't tip her hand about the nuclear option. Outlining what the government intends to do in the face of global warming, which she described as the "defining issue of this era," she detailed initiatives that critics have dismissed as "timid." They include a requirement that electricity suppliers in this province must obtain at least 5 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2007 and 10 per cent by 2010. By 2007, the government will require that ethanol make up 5 per cent of gasoline, 10 per cent by 2010. Meanwhile, environmental groups are marshalling arguments against the nuclear option. High-efficiency natural gas generating stations can be built more quickly and at a lower cost than nuclear power plants, said Jack Gibbons, of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance. Meeting 40 per cent of projected Ontario demand through conservation and energy efficiency measures would cost an estimated $18 billion in capital costs between now and 2020, a study released last week by the Pembina Institute estimated. Meeting the same demand through nuclear power would cost $32 million, it said. As the debate rages on, some players - like Manitoba, which aims to reduce its emissions by 18 per cent by 2010 and become the first jurisdiction to bring its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero within a decade - claim to be in the lead. But although Manitoba's emissions are one-tenth of Ontario's, so is its population. Matthew Bramley of the Pembina Institute says: "No government in Canada, federal or provincial, has yet done more than scratch the surface of what needs to be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." The Climate Group chose Toronto as the site of its first conference because of this city's greenhouse-gas-cutting initiatives, resulting in emissions that are 42 per cent below 1990 levels at city-owned facilities. Citywide, emissions are 2 per cent below 1990 levels, which may seem paltry but compares favourably with increases of 11 per cent Ontario-wide, and 18 per cent across Canada. The federal commitment under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol is to lower emissions by 6 per cent. As for Poplar River, the small fly-in community recently took an important step forward in securing the future of its traditional land, position on the world stage. Two weeks ago, federal Environment Minister David Anderson announced that the government is considering nominating the Atikaki/Woodland Caribou/Accord First Nations region as a possible candidate for a United Nations World Heritage designation. The region comprises five First Nations, including Pikangikum in Ontario, two provincial parks and forestry giant Tembec, a vast area spanning the Manitoba-Ontario border and comprising the largest unbroken boreal forest area on the continent. More work is needed to make the site designation a reality, but Poplar River residents understand the importance of an intact boreal forest, Rabliauskas says. "We recognize that what we do here will affect the rest of the world." > Pay less than $3 per week for 7 day home delivery. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAQs| Site Map| Privacy Policy| Webmaster| Subscribe| My Subscription -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Home| GTA| Business| Waymoresports| A&E| Life -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Distribution, transmission or republication of any material from www.thestar.com is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. For information please contact us using our webmaster form. www.thestar.com online since 1996. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Native News North List info{all lists}: http://nativenewsonline.org/natnews.htm Yahoo! 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