Environment

Canada is rich in biodiversity and home to 71,500 known species. Up to an estimated 66,000 species have yet to be discovered.¹ Yet an increasing number of species are at risk.

Species considered “critically endangered” are those facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future. Species considered “endangered” are those facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. Species considered “vulnerable” are those facing a high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium-term future.

Canada ranks 8^th out of 17 peer countries for the proportion of threatened species of mammals, birds, and vascular plants.

Canada does relatively well when species at risk are measured as a proportion of all known species. But Canada’s abundant biodiversity means it is home to more species than many of its peer countries, helping to lower the proportion of those at risk among all known species in Canada.²

Ireland, Norway, and Finland were the top performers for this indicator and received “A” grades. Canada was awarded a “B,” ranking behind the U.K. and the U.S. for threatened species.

According to the OECD, the number of species at risk in Canada is increasing (partly because of increased assessment work). Meanwhile, the status of most previously assessed species at risk is unchanged or has deteriorated. In 2004, almost 32 per cent of known mammals, 13 per cent of known birds, and 3 per cent of known vascular plants were classified as threatened in Canada. Increasing pressures on biodiversity reflect population growth in major urban regions and corridors, air and water pollution, alien invasive species, intensive farming, and increasing timber harvests.

In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assesses the national status of wild species, subspecies, varieties, or other important units of biological diversity that are considered to be at risk in Canada. In 2007, COSEWIC identified 556 species at risk in various categories, including 225 endangered species, 141 threatened species, and 155 of special concern.

As COSEWIC studies an increased number of species, more species have been added to Canada’s endangered species list. In 1988, for example, 178 endangered species were listed. By 2001, the number of species identified as being at risk by COSEWIC was 364.³ Over the past 30 years, 22 species have been extirpated from Canada (which means they still exist elsewhere in the world), while 13 have become extinct.⁴

The most recent examples of species extinction are two fish species from Hadley Lake in British Columbia that became extinct in 1999. The Banff Longnose Dace, a fish species native to Alberta, became extinct in 1986.

In 1992, Canada became the first industrialized nation to ratify the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.⁵ To fulfill the objectives of the convention, Canada released a biodiversity strategy in 1995, with three main objectives: the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of biological resources, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that result from the use of genetic resources. To achieve these objectives, Environment Canada’s Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network made a list of priorities:

• develop information
• monitor trends in biodiversity
• control alien invasive species
• engage Canadians through biodiversity stewardship

The government also committed to creating federal biodiversity action plans for agriculture, education, fisheries, forestry, international cooperation, northern affairs, parks, and wildlife.

Since 1995, only two of these eight national action plans have been prepared. Canada’s National Forest Strategy now contains an objective to protect representative forest ecosystems to conserve biodiversity. In agriculture, an action plan outlines various provincial incentives to help farmers protect wildlife habitats (e.g., Alberta Conservation Association funding for habitat programs, Manitoba’s Critical Wildlife Habitat Program, Saskatchewan’s Fish and Wildlife Development Fund, and the Nova Scotia Habitat Conservation Fund).

In 2003, the Species at Risk Act came into effect to protect species at risk and help their numbers recover. The Act provides for the legal protection and recovery of species considered at risk and found on federal lands or under federal jurisdiction, and also for the protection of critical habitat. Ecosystem protection has progressed in Canada, with a 40 per cent increase in total area (30 million hectares) under protection.⁶ Canada plans to establish 10 new national parks under the National Parks Act, 2001.

Overall, about 10 per cent of Canada’s total area is subject to some level of protection—below the OECD average and below the 12 per cent unofficial (but internationally recognized) national target.⁷

In June 2007, the Auditor General of Canada delivered a progress report on recommendations made to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Department of the Environment, and Parks Canada in a 2001 audit. The 2007 progress report criticized the three departments for failing to sufficiently address species at risk in Canada. Of 228 species at risk identified as requiring recovery strategies in 2001, only 55 species had recovery strategies completed for them by 2007.⁸

But recovery actions—including everything from research, public awareness, and education, to control of human activities, protection of habitat, and the reintroduction of species—are successfully being undertaken by a number of government and non-governmental organizations. In the 1940s, for example, the whooping crane was on the verge of extinction, with only 20 in existence. Although the species remains endangered, recovery efforts by many Canadian and American partners have fostered an increase in the bird’s population. An estimated 237 whooping cranes are now thriving in Wood Buffalo National Park.⁹

¹ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Environmental Performance Reviews: Canada (Paris: Author, 2004), p.76.

² David Suzuki Foundation, The Maple Leaf in the OECD: Comparing Progress Toward Sustainability (Vancouver: Author, 2005), p. 29.

³ David R. Boyd, Canada vs. the OECD: An Environment Comparison, 2001, [online, cited August 20, 2008].

⁴ Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, “Press Release,” December 3, 2007, [online, cited August 20, 2008].

⁵ Secretariat of the Convention on Biodiversity, [online, cited August 20, 2008].

⁶ OECD, Environmental Performance Reviews: Canada (Paris: Author, 2004), p.80.

⁷ OECD, OECD Environmental Data 2004 (Paris: Author, 2004), p. 142

⁸ Office of the Auditor General of Canada, “Chapter 5—Ecosystems—Protection of Species at Risk,” 2008 March Status Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, March 6, 2008, [online, cited September 18, 2008].

⁹ Office of the Auditor General of Canada, “Chapter 5—Ecosystems—Protection of Species at Risk,” 2008 March Status Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, March 6, 2008, [online, cited September 18, 2008].