Fall 2017 |
Newsletter Archive |
'Big City Charters' Could Mean Big Opportunities for Conservation | |
More and more people are becoming aware that decisions by municipalities can impact ecological conservation and environmental management - for good and for bad! For that reason, Miistakis has been tracking the current revamp of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) to see what this means for conservation. The latest development has been the release of the draft Big City Charters. These charters recognize that the one-size-fits-all MGA struggles to provide guidance for both Granum's 450 people and Calgary's 1 million people. These new Charters will give Edmonton and Calgary an extra layer of powers, in effect adding to the MGA or re-writing certain sections. So what will this mean for conserving the natural world? The good news is the changes appear to be positive in that they bestow extra abilities and responsibilities on Alberta's big cities with regard to the environment. They are in draft form, and currently receiving comment, but it looks like the Charters will have three fundamental changes that affect conservation.
Are there any guarantees with these new changes? Of course not, but they do better enable the cities to protect the natural world at both the big-picture policy level and the plan-implementation level. It is also important to understand that these changes were sought by Calgary and Edmonton rather than simply being imposed on them. Calgary and Edmonton are both internationally recognized for their conservation planning and management. So whats the bad news? The challenge - as always - is these opportunities come with no new funding, nor additional methods for the big cities to raise the necessary funds. And of course Alberta's other 350 municipalities do not get these powers! You can read more about the Big City Charters and take the online survey at: alberta.ca/city-charters. | |