A UNESCO investigation into Wood Buffalo National Park has been started after the organization received a complaint from the Mikisew Cree First Nation. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization received the complaint from the tribe and will be sending a monitoring committee to investigate. According to the complaint lodged by the Mikisew Cree First Nation industrial development in the area poses a risk to the environmental stability in Wood Buffalo National Park. A petition was started by the band which is based in Fort Chipewyan, and the goal was to have the park reclassified so that it became an at risk location. There are two projects that have caused concern among the Mikisew Cree First Nation. The Teck Frontier Oil Sands Mine and the Site C Dam would both harm the local ecology according to the petition and the complaint.

The band filed the complaint with UNESCO over Wood Buffalo National Park because they are concerned with protecting the natural state of the area. According to the First Nation the water levels in the delta have dropped significantly in recent years because of encroaching industrial development and this is harming the ecology in the park. The UNESCO website document concerning the investigation states “The Mikisew have reported that First Nations have expressed significant concern about its impacts on their hunting, fishing and agricultural areas.” According to Melody Lepine, the MCFN government and industrial relations director, “Being here this whole week, we have so much more work to do before it can be listed as in danger. But there are other positive outcomes that can happen even if it is not listed as in danger at the end of all this.”