Gros Morne National Park

• Petroleum exploration in the vicinity of the World Heritage property
• No buffer zone around the property

On 30 November 2015, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/419/documents/, and reports the following:

• There continues to be no possibility of onshore and onshore-based petroleum exploration using hydraulic fracturing in the property given the existing moratorium;
• An independent Newfoundland and Labrador Hydraulic Fracturing Review Panel has been established to conduct a public review of the socio-economic and environmental implications of hydraulic fracturing in Western Newfoundland. The report, including recommendations on future actions concerning hydraulic fracturing, was scheduled to be released in February 2016, and was postponed to late spring 2016;
• A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the western portion of the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area has been published;
• Parks Canada held meetings with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and concluded that the existing legislation and regulation provides a sufficient and effective framework to ensure the long-term protection of the property without defining a buffer zone.

Following review of the above state of conservation report, the World Heritage Centre requested further details from the State Party specifically regarding the SEA, to which the State Party responded on 12 February 2016 with the following information:

• The SEA was near completion when the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment was released, so retrofitting the SEA was considered to not be realistic;
• Future oil and gas production proposals will be subject to project-level environmental impact assessments (EIAs) that consider the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, and therefore it was not the State Party’s intentions to incorporate these at this stage in the SEA.

It is recommended that the Committee welcome the continued moratorium on onshore and onshore-based petroleum exploration using hydraulic fracturing, and that there are currently no active offshore licences in areas adjacent to the property or plans to initiate any process to issue licences in this offshore area. It is also recommended that, should the moratorium on acceptance for petroleum exploitation in the vicinity of the property be discontinued without putting other appropriate measures in place to maintain the OUV of the property, the State Party should invite a World Heritage Centre/IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission, as per the Committee’s previous request (Decision 37 COM 7B.18). It is considered that the moratorium should be used to ensure substantive measures are introduced to prevent future petroleum licences from being issued if they are likely to have a negative impact on the OUV of the property.

It is appreciated that the State Party will submit to the World Heritage Centre, a report by the Newfoundland and Labrador Hydraulic Fracturing Review Panel, on the public and stakeholder consultation of hydraulic fracturing. It is noted that the report will be used to reassess the effectiveness of the existing legislation and regulation to protect the property in the long term, and that it will also influence the SEAs and project-level EIAs.

The State Party’s clarification of the intended purpose of the SEA is appreciated, and it is noted that the SEA was nearing completion when the IUCN World Heritage Advice Note on Environmental Assessment was published. Nevertheless, it is considered that an assessment of potential impacts on the OUV of the property, including its conditions of integrity, as well as the identification of appropriate measures to avoid and/or mitigate such impacts would be required to inform the potential projects that could be considered before project-level EIAs are conducted.

It is appreciated that the State Party considered the Committee’s Decision 38 COM 7B.74 on buffer zones, and it is noted that the meetings on this matter concluded that an effective framework already exists. However, it is also noted that the public opinion poll conducted by the Review Panel revealed significant public support for a buffer zone and it is therefore recommended that the Committee request the State Party to establish a buffer zone as part of the measures needed to ensure adequate protection of the property against oil and gas exploration when the current moratorium expires.