Ontario Takes Steps To Protect Biodiversity

A Brief Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

Governments in Ontario and Canada have never had the best record in the world of protecting biodiversity, which at the nub of it means protecting other forms of life we humans need to a healthy and fulfilling life on a planet that – believe it or not – is not all about us.

Indeed, whenever there has been a choice between the preservation of valued natural resources and bulldozing or asphalting over ever more land, the bulldozers and asphalt trucks win almost every time. Developers won’t tell you that. They want us to believe that there are too many rules and regulations and tree huggers, standing in the way of their enterprises, but all you have to do is study the past three decades of continued low density sprawl in this region to discover that that’s not true.

Since it won its first majority government more than a year and a half ago, Harper’s Conservatives have been systematically weakening or scrapping rules and resources that might at least demand a proper environmental review of some of their supporters’ pet development projects like the tar sands and the pipelines that will help transport the goo to other regions of the world where it will be refined to fuel their wealth.

In Ontario, we continue paving over so much land for low-density, sprawling development that one of the province’s iconic wild plants, the trillium, is an endangered species?

The governments in this province and country haven’t even got the guts to stop an amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario – Marineland, to be exact – that it can’t import any more beluga whales from Russia for cheap entertainment at its park even though other countries, including Canada, do not allow the live capture of these struggling mammals in their waters. A former animal trainer for European carnivals who now runs a profitable entertainment zoo in Niagara Falls is able to call the shots in Ontario and Canada on the live capture and importation of a threatened species for the most frivolous of reasons.

So perhaps we might feel a tinje of hope from the fact that our current Ontario government has released the following December 3 news advisory, announcing that it is throwing a few more bones (although it would hardly put it that way) in the direction of protecting what is left of our wildlife and biodiversity.

We are posting this advisory and relevant links for our readers information , and invited you to share your comments below.

Ontario Releases Action Plan to Protect Biodiversity
McGuinty Government Protecting the Environment

NEWS December 3, 2012

Ontario is improving protection of its forests, lakes, animals, plants and citizens through the implementation of a new biodiversity plan.

The plan, Biodiversity: It’s in Our Nature, identifies over 100 activities the province will undertake with industry, environmental and community partners over the next decade to protect biodiversity.

These activities respond to the recommendations of the Ontario Biodiversity Council’s 2011 strategy including:

 Continuing to integrate biodiversity conservation in school curricula, as appropriate, from kindergarten to Grade 12.
 Identifying new ways to enable Ontario’s carbon-intensive industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 Involving Aboriginal peoples in biodiversity monitoring, data collection and information sharing.

Protecting Ontario’s biodiversity is part of the McGuinty government’s plan to ensure a healthy environment for future generations.

QUOTE
“We all have a responsibility to protect Ontario’s rich and abundant biodiversity. I am proud that Ontario has the most progressive biodiversity strategy in Canada, and I am very pleased that we now have this collaborative implementation plan to see it through.”
— Michael Gravelle, Minister of Natural Resources

QUICK FACTS
 The word “biodiversity” refers to the immense variety of life on Earth, from microscopic insects to vast northern forests.
 Fifteen government ministries supported the Ministry of Natural Resources in the development of the plan.
 Ontario has partnered with Trees Ontario to plant 50 million trees across southern Ontario to help clean our air by removing about 6.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050.
 The Species at Risk Stewardship Fund has helped restore nearly 24,000 hectares of important habitat. Completed projects have supported about 1,800 jobs and an estimated 214,700 hours of volunteer work for 17,300 Ontarians.
 The plan builds upon other initiatives introduced since 2005, including the Ontario Invasive Species Strategic Plan, the Endangered Species Act and the Great Lakes Strategy.

LEARN MORE
Read Biodiversity: It’s in Our Nature.
Read the Ontario Biodiversity Strategy, 2011

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