https://thenarwhal.ca/torngats-inuit-marine-conservation-area/
"The worn peaks of the Torngat Mountains slope into rubble before crumbling
into the Labrador Sea. They dip into verdant valleys and shallow bowls perched
thousands of metres into the sky. The peaks grow taller as you travel north,
replaced by straight-blade ridges and jagged tops. Trees peter out of the
subarctic landscape long before you reach them, but low brush and willow,
fireweed and berries crawl across their shores and climb as far as they can
find soil. These stoic tortoises and feisty razorbacks proffer adventure to
those who seek it, but perhaps they’re more interested in telling you a story —
if you’ll listen.
Torngait, in the Inuttitut dialect, means “place of spirits.” It’s from this
word that the Torngat Mountains derive their name and from the Inuit that they
derive their protection. In 2005, the Labrador Inuit Association and the
governments of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador signed the Labrador Inuit
Land Claim Agreement. It established the Torngat Mountains National Park
Reserve — the precursor to the national park that followed in 2008.
Unlike those before it, Torngat Mountains National Park was co-led by the
Indigenous people of these lands, rather than imposed on them. The Labrador
Inuit Association’s chief negotiator, Toby Andersen, said at the time that the
park reserve was “the Inuit gift to the people of Canada”: a place where
cultural heritage and natural beauty can be both protected and appreciated. All
9,700 square kilometres of land, right up to the low-water mark. While several
of Canada’s national parks attract millions of visitors annually, just 489
people visited the Torngats this past summer — making it one of the most
beautiful places on earth that few people will see with their own eyes.
Now, almost two decades after the park was established, work is underway to
protect the waters that pool at the feet of those mountains and stretch into
the Labrador Sea, shuttling icebergs and boats alike. The proposed borders of
this first Inuit-led national marine conservation area stretch around these
subarctic waters where coral gardens flourish, offshore oil and gas is largely
untapped and the dynamic sea ice choreographs a food chain that sustains
seabirds, fish, whales and people.
But to protect these fragile waters, they also need to be understood. A massive
initiative is underway to braid together generations of Inuit Knowledge with
cutting-edge technology into a comprehensive portrait of what is known and
still unknown about these nearly 15,000 square kilometres of marine area off
the coast of Torngat Mountains National Park.
Unrestricted by boundaries or a specific moment in time, this is a story about
that place and what it means to protect it."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-rail-education-ethiopia-conservation-congo/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
