Indigenous peoples have long been leaders in environmental stewardship, sustainable development, and management of natural resources. Bringing Indigenous knowledge together with western science offers solutions to biodiversity loss and climate change, while safeguarding the natural spaces we all depend on.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, today celebrates the new Inuvialuit-led conservation area in the Yukon. Canada and its partners, the Inuvialuit Parties and the Government of Yukon, have signed the Aullaviat/Anguniarvik Traditional Conservation Area Agreement, which ensures the conservation and protection of almost 8,500 km² of the Eastern Yukon North Slope called Aullaviat/Anguniarvik. The area is larger than Banff National Park and is an important contribution toward Canada's goal of conserving 30 percent of lands and waters in Canada by 2030.
Canada's $10 million funding contribution, with $3.5 million in matching funding from philanthropic organizations, will support the creation of the Aullaviat/Anguniarvik Stewardship and Guardians Program through a trust. This program will guide the management and monitoring of the area, enable on-the-land cultural engagement across generations, and provide meaningful jobs in Aklavik.
The parties to the Agreement have developed a management plan for the area to ensure conservation and traditional Inuvialuit use. This announcement complements the network of terrestrial and marine protected areas across northern Yukon and spans international borders, including Ivvavik and Vuntut National Parks and Herschel Island Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park, Niaqunnaq (part of the Tarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area), and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
This historic ratification was put into motion with the signing of the 1984 Inuvialuit Final Agreement, which identified the entire northern portion of the Yukon as a place for the conservation of wildlife, habitat and traditional Inuvialuit use. The Aullaviat/Anguniarvik Traditional Conservation Agreement is the final piece of the puzzle that advances the cultural and biodiversity goals and objectives of Inuvialuit, Canada, and the Yukon.
