Environmental Law Alert Blog

Through our Environmental Law Alert blog, West Coast keeps you up to date on the latest developments and issues in environmental law. This includes:

  • proposed changes to the law that will weaken, or strengthen, environmental protection;
  • stories and situations where existing environmental laws are failing to protect the environment; and
  • emerging legal strategies that could be used to protect our environment.

If you have an environmental story that we should hear about, please e-mail Andrew Gage. We welcome your comments on any of the posts to this blog – but please keep in mind our policies on comments.

2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards Winner

You may have heard of the Great Bear Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network, which is an inspiring project by coastal Indigenous nations and the federal and provincial government to protect vast swaths of ecologically rich ocean in the north and central coast of BC.

Critters, rejoice. Canada appears to be in an era of renewed attention to wildlife and the lands and waters they need to survive and thrive. 

We made history at COP15 in 2022.

Together, we inspired a historic plan to stop nature loss once and for all: the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Last year at this time, Vancouver was the centre of the marine conservation world, as the city hosted the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5). The Congress brought together attendees from far and wide to make progress on global marine protection goals.

As interest in offshore oil and gas exploration is thankfully floundering in Canada, marine renewable energy is on the rise.

Federal Court decision reminds us all levels of government have a role to play in regulating plastic pollution  

In September 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated Átl’ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound and the surrounding watershed as a biosphere region (also referred to as a “biosphere reserve”).

Spring is usually a beautiful, vibrant time in the Fraser River Estuary, but this year it also brought the dark cloud of federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s approval of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (T2) expansion project.

On June 23, in the middle of what is expected to be the busiest cruise ship season ever on the west coast, Canada finally announced a

This spring, the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance (LFFA) and RELAW (Revitalizing Indigenous Law for Land, Air & Water) brought young people and Guardians from Lower Fraser First Nations together to discuss the importance