Canada's Lack of an Endangered Species Law

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

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6/2/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

It is absolutely shocking that Canada, which likes to position itself

at global conferences as a champion for the environment, lacks

endangered species legislation. How in the hell can developed and

affluent societies fail to protect their biological resources, while

railing at poor country's efforts to better their lot? It is time for

rich countries to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Shame on

the Canadian federal government! While you prattle on about saving

rainforests, 22 species of wildlife have disappeared in Canada, and

another 285 animal and plant species are in danger. Any and all means,

including trade sanctions discussed in the accompanying article, must

be used to foster conservation in the massive forests of Canada--every

bit as important in terms of ecological functionality as the Amazon

and other rainforests. If survival of the Amazon rainforests can

become internationalized as a World issue, so can stopping the

plundering of Canada's boreal forests and temperate rainforests. The

World simply cannot afford to lose its remaining forest ecological

cores.

g.b.

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Title: ENVIRONMENT-CANADA: Protecting Endangered Species

Source: InterPress Service via econet

Date: May 23, 1999

Byline: Mark Bourrie

OTTAWA, May 23 (IPS) - Environmentalists in the United States are

looking at trade sanctions under the North America Free Trade

Agreement (NAFTA) as a way of forcing the Canadian government to pass

a law to protect endangered wildlife.

Earlier this month, the Ottawa government killed the idea of adding

endocrine-disrupting chemicals to its pollution laws and gave no sign

it would heed pleas to introduce legislation to protect rare animals

and their habitat. Canada's neighbour, the United States, has had laws

to protect endangered species for 25 years.

Bill Snape, legal director of Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington

lobby group, says his association will submit an official petition

under NAFTA's rules that would force the US administration to

investigate whether the lack of an endangered species law gives Canada

an unfair manufacturing and resource extraction advantage.

NAFTA links Canada and the United States with Mexico in a free trade

agreement.

Proponents of sanctions against Canada say that its lack of an

endangered species law can give illegal advantages to Canadian logging

firms, fishing companies, farmers and land developers.

"Look, Canada, you've got to get going," Snape said. "Now is truly the

time, or the president of the United States will have the authority to

impose trade sanctions upon you."

Canada's environment minister, Christine Stewart, says the United

States may use the issue as "a convenient way to put up a barrier

against Canadian trade," which has been a constant threat since

NAFTA was adopted in 1994.

But Canadian environmentalists say their government must come up with

a law that protects the habitat of endangered animals, and no

legislation proposal presented so far fits the bill.

"For federal endangered species legislation to be effective, it must

apply to the full extent of federal jurisdiction," said Marc Johnson,

endangered species co-ordinator for the Canadian Wildlife Federation

(CWF), an umbrella group of conservationists.

"It must list species at risk and their critical habitat needs based

on scientific criteria, automatically prohibit killing, harming,

harassing, or taking a listed species or destroying its `home'."

American environmentalists say their government pours money and effort

into trying to preserve the grizzly bear from extinction, but as soon

as the animals cross the border into Canada they can be shot or the

trees of their habitat cut down.

Piping plovers, also endangered and protected in the United States,

migrate north to Canada to breed around Saskatchewan's Lake

Diefenbaker. But the provincial hydro utility closes a dam each spring

and floods half their nests.

In two of the last seven years, there have been no young birds seen at

the plovers' largest remaining breeding site.

Another area of dispute is the habitat of Pacific salmon. The US

government has declared nine species of wild salmon in the Pacific

Northwest to be threatened with extinction. The coastal states

affected by this extension of the U.S. Endangered Species Act

protection are asking for funding of 100 million dollars to restore

salmon spawning areas and begin reclamation measures.

``If we are investing millions to protect the salmon, we want to be

sure our neighbours are doing the same thing,'' says Heather Wiener,

of the Washington office of EarthJustice, which has joined Defenders

of Wildlife in its threat to launch trade action.

Negotiations between the Canadian and U.S. governments broke down last

year over American refusals to agree to lower salmon quotas for their

Pacific fishing fleets. When Canadian fishers blockaded Alaskan

ferries in protest, relations between the two countries' governments

soured.

Anglers in the US state of Minnesota have asked the U.S. government to

invoke NAFTA regulations to force Canada to relax conservation limits

on the number of fish American anglers can take home from the Canadian

side of the Great Lakes.

In 1996, Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments

signed the National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk,

committing them to establishing "complementary legislation and

programs that provide for the effective protection of species at risk

throughout Canada".

However, legislation to implement the accord has never passed through

Canada's federal Parliament. For constitutional reasons, the country's

13 provinces and territories cannot pass their own laws until the

federal law is passed.

"The provincial, territorial, and federal governments have failed to

live up to their commitments to protect and recover Canada's

endangered, threatened, and vulnerable species," said CWF's Johnson.

"Canada's endangered species cannot wait any longer. They need

effective legal protection across the country. Only the federal

government can provide this national safety net, at least until such

time as all provinces and territories fully meet their commitments."

Johnson said that 22 species of wildlife already had disappeared in

Canada and a further 285 animal and plant species were in danger,

including the Atlantic cod, grizzly bear, five lined skink, and the

swift fox.

" The main threat is the destruction of habitat. Even the proposed law

which failed to pass in 1997 would only have earned a D grade,"

Johnson said.

Environmental scientists believe habitat protection is critical and

have calculated that 80 per cent of Canada's 285 endangered animal and

plant species are at risk because of threats to the habitat.

In Ontario, the logging of 92 per cent of the "Carolingian" forest,

that once blanketed much of the south-western part of the province,

has endangered many bird and animal species.

Stewart's original promise of habitat protection has wavered in the

face of the jurisdictional complexities, Johnson said.

"Her long-awaited bill bodes to be almost as weak as its precursor;

she'll be protecting endangered species only on federal land (5 per

cent of the total, since most government-owned land in Canada belongs

to the provinces) while asking landowners and farmers to voluntarily

fill in the gaps.

"It won't do!" (END/IPS/mb/mk/99)

Origin: Montevideo/ENVIRONMENT-CANADA/

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[c] 1999, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)

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