Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 29/02) - Northern environmentalists want the territorial government to buck what they see as a disturbing trend -- counting the costs of reducing greenhouse gas emission rather than the costs of not reducing them.

To spur action, Ecology North members stamped out "Ratify Kyoto Now" in large letters in the snow around the Legislative Assembly.

The Kyoto agreement calls on signatory nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to six per cent below 1996 levels between 2008 and 2012.

"The NWT is in a difficult position, but we feel it needs to do more and needs to show leadership," said Ecology North's Doug Ritchie.

The difficulty of the NWT's position is that emissions here are expected double by 2013, due to increased mining and oil and gas activity. The NWT generates less than one per cent of the country's total emissions.

Ritchie noted the GNWT is not fully in control of development in the North, a responsibility it shares with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Jim Antoine said last month the GNWT "supports international actions to reduce emissions, including the Kyoto Protocol."

The feds estimate meeting the Kyoto target will cost between $300 million and $3.3 billion. Citing the economic toll meeting that target would take on the country, the U.S. has rejected the agreement. Ecology North believes that with a commitment to alternative energy, implementing Kyoto could result in more than fewer Canadian jobs. The GNWT could play a more active roll said Ritchie, pointing to one of the NWT's most northerly community as an example.

"We think it's a poor state of affairs where a community like Sachs Harbour, which is perfect for wind energy, has a wind generator lying on the ground in pieces," he said.

Antoine, the closest the NWT has to an environment minister, said he will be joining his federal, provincial and territorial counterparts again in May "to continue discussions on measures to control climate change and when Canada should ratify the Kyoto protocol."