Suggestions for natural sites that would be potential candidates for World Heritage nomination can arise from any of the six sources given in the Procedure table. As background for this study, Parks Canada has provided a record of sites that have been suggested over the past two decades from both official sources or from random suggestions made by NGOs and private citizens. In reviewing these in light of factors discussed in section 2, a number certainly merit consideration while others do not. The eight sites remaining on the 1980 Tentative List need to be revisited.
Prospects for additional natural WHS abound. Canada is a large country with an extensive protected areas system. To select those sites that may have “outstanding universal value” is a challenging task to which many could contribute. There is no limit to the number of sites that a State Party can include on its Tentative List (though there are obvious limits to the credibility of an excessively long list). The Tentative List for the USA (16), for example, includes 35 natural sites. The objective of this report was to suggest a ”short list” of strong candidates to begin with, backed up by a “shadow” list of those that also might merit further consideration when additional data on their justification is available.
Constraints to this report should be underlined. As mentioned in the introduction, this is a desk study only and is limited to review of available published material. The additional sites for the revised Tentative List are not meant to comprise an inclusive list and, with wider consultation, there will certainly be others that will be suggested. Secondly, it is assumed that no site would be formally entered into the Tentative List without consultation and agreement with the relevant provincial and territorial authorities and directly affected populations and stakeholders. This report thus examines the intrinsic values of possible sites without regard to the political map of the country. Finally, the selection of the potential new Tentative List sites is affected by the current policy directions of the World Heritage Committee and also takes into consideration the current distribution of natural sites and possibilities of “competing” and/or complementary nominations from neighbouring countries.