Protecting The Everglades - Will Relisting Help?

Max Boath - Contributing Writer
Posted on Friday 26th June 2009

The Everglades could soon be placed back on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger, after being removed from the protective list a few years ago. The Bush Administration had taken the South Florida ecosystem off the list of sites in 2007, even though that decision was not widely endorsed by stakeholders. The National Park Service, the State of Florida, and other involved agencies said they received inadequate consultation on the request to remove the Everglades from the list. Now, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is taking the initiative of getting the delicate World Heritage Site back on the protected list.

President Obama has supported Everglade restoration through ample funding and budget allocation. The Omnibus Appropriation Act signed earlier this year denotes $241 million toward the Everglades, and the American Recovery and Investment Act will provide an additional $119.2 million. The president is currently evaluating a budget for 2010 that would grant the Everglades $278 million. The funding makes the project the largest watershed restoration project in world history.

But Salazar feels that the Everglades deserve the funding and attention on a world scale. The Everglades are one of the world’s most prized and threatened ecosystems, and everything must be done to ensure its endurance. Salazar is attending the 21-nation World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, Spain, to see what must be done to get the park relisted. Chances are that the Everglades won’t be put back on the list at this meeting, but the Committee, which oversees places of natural and cultural significance around the world, should be working to reinstate the park soon. Salazar also hopes that the return to the list of sites in danger won’t be permanent. Until Hurricane Andrew disrupted some of the park’s ecology in 1993, the site had never been on the list, and officials hope that it can one day be properly taken off when all of the ecosystem’s threats have been addressed.

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