TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY TO CANADA
A CONSTANTLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
STRATEGIES FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY BIODIVERSITY?
STRATEGIES FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
There are three essential components of effective biodiversity conservation strategies. These are: the recovery of endangered species, degraded ecosystems and ecological processes; the mitigation of human impacts on the natural environment, which includes the establishment of parks and protected areas; and the adoption of a preventive approach in all human activities on the landscape. These activities need to be integrated and coordinated, requiring co-operation among and support from a wide range of government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and private landowners
. The recovery of endangered species and the restoration of degraded ecosystems and ecological processes tend to be synonymous with biodiversity conservation. The list of species considered to be endangered, threatened or vulnerable in Canada continues to grow and only a few of these species are the beneficiaries of focused recovery efforts. Restoration is expensive and difficult, and is a last ditch effort to save species and ecosystems from an onslaught of threats that may remain uncontrolled. For this reason, one of the questions raised in biodiversity conservation is whether we can or should try to save every species. After all, species such as the passenger pigeon and the Labrador duck have become extinct without causing ecological collapse. However, due to our rudimentary knowledge of how ecosystems function we have only a limited understanding of which species are critical to ecosystem integrity. While there are sound moral arguments for restoring species or ecosystems that are disappearing due to human activities, the reality is that extinction cannot be reversed. As we are unable to predict the ecological impact of the loss of any species, it only makes sense to take the actions necessary to pull endangered species back from the brink.
Much of the current efforts in biodiversity conservation are focused on mitigating the impacts of human activities. This can be done in two ways. The establishment of parks and protected areas that are off-limits to natural resource extraction is a crucial component of biodiversity conservation strategies. If one of the objectives in biodiversity conservation is to differentiate our impacts on the environment from natural processes, then protected areas give us some benchmark to which we can compare managed lands. However, no protected area is totally immune from human impacts as pollution can be transported in by air and water. Protected areas are also rarely of sufficient size to protect ecosystems and all of their components, and without supportive actions on the surrounding landscape there is a danger that they may become islands in a sea of development, defeating their purpose. Nevertheless they are a critical component of biodiversity conservation efforts, especially for the protection of species or ecosystems that are particularly vulnerable to disturbance, and in most cases they provide a reasonable approximation of how natural processes would alter the environment in the absence of human interventions.
We can also take direct steps to mitigate our impacts on biodiversity. Thus, we can consider the impacts of forest management on certain species of wildlife, such as pine marten, and modify these activities to provide habitat for pine marten and the other species that share similar habitat. The shape and size of clearcuts can also be adapted to meet the needs of certain species and the timing of logging activities can be modified to reduce disturbance to the environment. We can also abandon technologies that cause undue damage to biodiversity. Driftnets, for example, result in the catch of a wide range of species that are of no value to the fisher. On our farms we can reduce the use of pesticides that poison wildlife Canada recently banned the use of Fenitrothion due to its effects on wildlife species. It is often overlooked that such mitigative actions have been a component of all industrial uses of the land for decades and have been improved continually as our knowledge of the impacts of our management actions increases.
However, if we are to look forward in biodiversity conservation, our emphasis must shift from mitigation and restoration to prevention. The Global Convention on Biological Diversity states that "...it is vital to anticipate, prevent and attack the causes of significant reduction or loss of biological diversity at source." We must therefore attempt to anticipate the impacts on biodiversity of all human activities across the landscape and consider these up front in the planning process. This is resulting in a new approach to land use that changes its focus from wrestling the environment into submission to finding harmony between human activities and natural processes.
A preventive approach also requires that all factors affecting land use and human activities are integrated and supportive. There is no shortage of examples of situations where government agencies send conflicting signals to land owners or land users compromising their stewardship efforts. One agency may encourage the development of marginal lands while another promotes their protection as wildlife habitat. Subsidy programs and taxation treatments may also work at cross purposes with conservation objectives and can have unknown or unintended negative impacts on biodiversity conservation. The tax assessments of many private woodlots in southern Ontario are based on their development potential, for example, providing a disincentive to the landowner who must often cut the trees simply to pay the taxes.
We can't turn back the clock, nor is that natural. But we can ensure that our biodiversity conservation strategies enable species and ecosystems to evolve and adapt by restoring them where necessary and lessening our impacts upon them where possible. True success in biodiversity conservation will only come when we learn how to integrate the activities we must undertake on the landscape to meet our own needs with the natural processes that govern all life on this planet, and ensure that biodiversity objectives are incorporated into the planning of human activities at all levels.