Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University
Volume 16 Issue
8
T he crew c o m p e te d a t the M cG ill Invita tio n a l S a tu rd a y in the O lym pic B a sin . T he m e n ’s a n d w o m e n ’s h eavyw eight eights le d the p a c k with firs t p la c e fin is h e s .
Poor showing at A U S forum on new B .A .
Conservation issues at the forefront
Working through scientific and political debates, conservationists from around the world unite to plan an attack on global environmental issues B y A le x a n d r a S t ikem a n
B y B enji W
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Although students and faculty have expressed disappointment with the poor attendance at an open forum for the proposed restructuring of the Bachelor of Arts degree, many remain opti mistic about the proposal’s future. Last Thursday, an open forum was held which invited all mem bers of the Arts Undergraduate Society to come and express any concerns about a proposal which would significantly overhaul the present BA degree. The new majors program would create more broad-based degrees, with 36 credits in a given department required for a major concentration, plus a mandatory minor or second major. The open forum, although well-advertised, had very poor attendance, and organisers have since expressed their concern. “I was really disappointed W a lk s a f e N e tw o rk 3 9 8 -2 4 9 8 Walking with you from anywhere to anywhere. Sun-Thurs 7:00pm to 12:45am Fri-Sat 7:00pm to 2:30 am
“Acceptance to graduate school has nothing to do with the number of courses taken, but a lot to do with the way courses are chosen.” — Prof.
J. McGilvray
with the attendance. There were maybe 10 or 15 people there who weren’t already involved in the proposal,” said Karim Bardeesy, AUS VP academic. Professor J. McGilvray, chair of the Work Group on Curricular Reform that put together the pro posal, offered an explanation for why so few people turned out. “A lot of people most likely think that the proposed changes won’t affect them,” he said. “It is not clear that it won’t at least be an option available to them.” Despite the small crowd at the forum, important issues were still addressed. Many students are par ticularly concerned about the rami fications of reducing the number of required courses in a major con centration. “There were,concerns about whether or not it will be a problem for someone in a multi-track sysC o n t in u e d o n P a g e 2
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During a news conference on Wednesday, the World Wildlife Fund made a strong request to the IUCN, asking for their support in the protection of wildlife and natur al ecosystems. This concern was raised specifically with respect to
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conservation areas and national parks received a lot of attention at the conference, also in response to Chrétien’s plan to establish a net work of marine national conserva tion areas and two new national parks.The “red list” also includes 148 marine fish species which have been threatened as a result of over fishing. The prime minister also promised a set of 500 recommenda tions to reverse and limit the devel opment in Banff National Park, the most heavily developed park in North America. Recently, the park has experienced a decline in grizzly bear and wolf populations. Based on Canada’s global rep utation as a negligent conservation ist, it was no coincidence that much of its environmental legislation was C o n t i n u e d o n P a g e 10
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An echo of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit was heard throughout the city of Montreal last week, as peo ple from around the world gathered at the Palais des Congrès to mark the largest conservation conference ever. This was the first year that the World Conservation Union (IUCN) opened its congress to the public, allowing them to attend workshops and special events that took place between October 17 and 21. The workshops dealt with key issues ranging from the role of eco nomics in conservation to the impact of climate change on nation al parks. Over 2,000 participants, repre senting members from 73 different countries, congregated to discuss conservation issues. The mission was to encourage the global com munity to act collectively to “con serve the integrity and diversity of nature.”
the problems created by global warming and its impact on fragile environments. “Biodiversity is severely threatened by climate change,” said Adam Markham, the director of W W F’ s Climate Campaign. Consequently, many species became extinct as a result of the increasing temperature of the earth. This year, IUCN published its “red list” of endangered species, which received a fair amount of attention in concordance with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien’ s recent announcement of the govern ment’s Endangered Species Act proposal. A major concern was expressed by many participants regarding the need for habitat pro tection in the Act. Habitat loss is currently the number one problem for over 80 per cent of Canada’s endangered species. “That’ s why the US Endangered Species Act is so strong; it includes habitat protec tion. I don’t see what the point is if there isn’t any,” said Robin Naidoo, a masters student in biology at McGill who attended the confer ence. Certain species such as the spotted owl, he explained, only inhabit and breed in old growth forests in the pacific northwest. Protection of these areas is manda tory if the birds are to survive. The significance of marine
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