Marine protected areas, or MPAs for short, are areas of the ocean that provide protection from harmful human activities and exploitation.
Environmental Law Alert Blog
Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:
- proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
- stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
- emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.
If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.
This blog originally appeared in Slaw, Canada's online legal magazine, where West Coast Executive Director and Senior Counsel Jessica Clogg is a regular columnist.
BC fisheries are struggling with declining stocks due to ever-increasing pressures from climate change, coastal development, pollution and industrial fishing. But we need only look to Indigenous leadership for solutions.
“We are going to sue Big Oil,” noted journalist Avi Lewis told us. “This is an historic moment, and you are going to be able to tell everyone you were here when it began.”
nʔaysnúlaʔxw iʔ k̓̓łluxwnwixwmntət (Ashnola Declaration)
On April 28, 2022, the sməlqmíx, the syilx people of the Similkameen Valley, declared the nʔaysnúlaʔxw snxaʔcnitkw (Ashnola Watershed) in its entirety and for all future generations an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA).
Coastal communities in BC have always relied on the ocean – for food, culture, recreation and livelihoods.
After a two-year hiatus because of COVID-19, cruise ships are back on the west coast, plying the waters and sensitive ecosystems of British Columbia, primarily travelling to and from Alaska.
Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRT) has produced a short video sharing some of the work it has been doing over the past five years through its RELAW project.
This joint op-ed was originally published in the Globe & Mail on April 14, 2022.
Environmental racism is a widespread problem in Canada, affecting many Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities across the country.