Local celebration of rivers may go global

By Dan Hilborn
Published Jan. 19, 2005


A 25-year-old celebration that had its roots in Burnaby before spreading across Canada may soon become an official international event sanctioned by the United Nations.

Mark Angelo, chair of the fish, wildlife and recreation Centre of Excellence at BCIT, is optimistic that a World Rivers Day could be proclaimed at the UN headquarters in New York City as early as this spring.

"I think the concept of a World Rivers Day would fit in really well with the core values of the Water for Life Initiative and it would be based on the model and success we've seen unfold in B.C. Rivers Day," said Angelo, a Burnaby resident who has gained an international reputation for his love of and devotion to the protection of the world's wild river heritage.

A past chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C., Angelo is a recipient of the Order of Canada for his river conservation work, and recently helped to produce RiverWorld, a multimedia presentation that been shown around the world in collaboration with the National Geographic Society.

The World Rivers Day proposal has been endorsed by one of the most senior water management officials in Canada, including Bob Sandford, chair of the UN's International Year of Fresh Water in 2003 and the 2004 Wonder of Water Initiative in Canada.

Angelo noted the UN is officially endorsing a Water for Life decade, beginning on March 22 this year, and a World Rivers Day would be a perfect tie-in to raise awareness about the need to protect and preserve natural rivers.

"There's a lot of support for the idea," he said. "There's support at the national level, and I've touched base with groups in other countries who have responded enthusiastically to the idea. I'd love to think we could see similar events around rivers unfold in other countries similar to what we've seen here in British Columbia."

Angelo notes that the growing scarcity of clean water is one of the biggest long-term environmental problems facing the world and Canada is in a unique position to set a good example for other countries to follow.

He also said that fresh water is a far more valuable commodity than most people in Canada realize.

"Eighty per cent of the world is covered in water, but 95 per cent of that is saline, two per cent is locked up in ice and only one per cent is available for human consumption," he said.

Angelo said most Canadians don't realize how fortunate they are to be able to turn on a tap and have immediate access to clean, fresh water. Nationwide, we use an average of 350 litres of water per person, per day, which is twice the amount used in Great Britain, six times more than most of Asia, and up to 15 times as much as most African nations.

"On the one hand we're very fortunate, but on the other hand statistics like that are an indication that we all have to become better water stewards than we've been in the past."

Angelo noted that he spent four days living with a family in Mali, west Africa last year, when they had to walk four hours each day to fetch water, which was not always clean enough to drink.

"You see something like that, and it changes your perspective," he said.

After his trip to Ottawa, Angelo will head to United Nations headquarters in New York to discuss his World Rivers Day plans before heading off to India, where he will meet with non- governmental organizations that are working to clean up the Ganges River.

If his proposal is successful, World River Day would most likely be held on the last Sunday in September to coincide with B.C. Rivers Day. Last year, more than 75,000 people across the province participated in B.C. Rivers Day events, including an estimated 3,000 people who came out to the annual gathering at Fraser Foreshore Park in Burnaby.