Parvati.org Celebrates US and Canada Decision to Avoid Arctic Oil and Gas

Parvati.org Celebrates US and Canada Decision to Avoid Arctic Oil and Gas

Canadian environmental not-for-profit Parvati.org celebrates the decision by Canada and the United States to avoid future oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean. In a joint statement released yesterday, Prime Minister Trudeau and President Obama announced that the United States is designating the “vast majority of U.S. waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas as indefinitely off limits to offshore oil and gas leasing”, and that Canada “will designate all Arctic Canadian waters as indefinitely off limits to future offshore Arctic oil and gas licensing, to be reviewed every five years.”

“This is a huge win for the Arctic Ocean and its inhabitants, and for everyone who believes in a healthy planet,” says Parvati.org founder, Canadian musician and activist Parvati. “It shows that when the public demands change, change becomes possible. No one has any business investing in the loss of the sea ice that keeps our planet cool and livable.”

Arctic oil is considered “unburnable” under any scenario that keeps global warming to “well below 2ºC” (3.6F) above pre-industrial times as stipulated in the Paris Agreement. For world governments to honour their COP21 commitments, every country must strive to protect the Arctic Ocean from degradation, not facilitate further exploitation.

Parvati.org is working to establish the entire ocean north of the Arctic Circle, a key and critically vulnerable ecosystem, as a permanent international marine protected area, stopping all oil and gas exploration, seismic testing, commercial fishing and shipping, and other forms of exploitation. To this end, Parvati.org has created the international Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS) Treaty, translated into the six official UN languages, and distributed it to the heads of government of all member nations of the UN.

“If President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau are truly committed to protecting the Arctic Ocean,” says Parvati, “their next step will be to sign the MAPS Treaty, which will ensure no drilling takes place under existing oil and gas licenses as well as preventing future drilling. In addition, with Canadian offshore oil and gas now off limits, there is no longer any need for seismic surveys looking for new deposits. Therefore, we expect the immediate cancellation of the seismic blasting currently planned for Baffin Bay and Davis Strait.”

 

MAPS: The Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary must be realized to protect our planet today, and for generations to come.

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