The federal government affirms that it is acting to protect biodiversity, but the efforts to restore endangered species “are insufficient,” summed up the Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development in a report published on Thursday.
Nearly 20 years after the Species at Risk Act (SARA) came into force, the pressure on wildlife and their habitats “has only intensified,” the report said. In this regard, “the number of species listed in the Act has increased and it is expected that this increase will continue”.
As of December 2022, 640 plant and animal species in Canada were listed as endangered under SARA, a federal law protecting wildlife species in the country.
The Commissioner’s review also revealed that of the 520 endangered species that have been reassessed since 1982, 416 (80%) showed no change in status or were now placed in a higher risk category. In Quebec, the woodland caribou, the Saint Lawrence beluga, the chorus frog and the red horse are among the species whose situation has deteriorated over the years, although they are theoretically protected under SARA. The critical habitat of the forest caribou is not even adequately protected.
“Significant Delays”
This situation, which threatens Canada’s commitment to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, is due to efforts by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Parks Canada to plan for the recovery of endangered species and reporting on them was “slow and insufficient”.
Commissioner Jerry V. DeMarco points out that although most of the threatened or endangered wildlife species were targets of a recovery strategy, more than half did not have an action plan to promote their recovery. Of the 257 action plans required to support the implementation of remediation strategies, 146 were not prepared, of which 138 were ECCC plans.
The audit also found significant delays in producing implementation reports that would reflect progress toward the recovery goals set in the recovery strategies and management plans. Of the 399 progress reports the ECCC was required to produce for species under its responsibility, only one was produced.
“Reporting on progress is about holding departments accountable for the actions taken and showing whether those actions are having a tangible impact,” DeMarco said Thursday. Without this ongoing monitoring, the government could miss opportunities to improve outcomes for endangered species. »
“Imminent Danger”
In another report, the Commissioner notes that ECCC is not “proactive” in advising the Environment Minister in a timely manner on using the discretionary powers available to him in an emergency to protect species.
These powers can lead to the issuing of “emergency ordinances” designed to stop an imminent threat to a species. However, since SARA came into force, barely three such decrees have been passed, including two aimed at curbing the destruction of tree frog habitats in Quebec. The first was recorded in La Prairie in 2016, the second in Longueuil in the fall of 2021 to stop a road project that had already destroyed a habitat for this species. This project had been approved by the Legault government.
The commissioner also points out that the three emergency decrees were issued as a result of “external pressure on the federal government”. In the Longueuil case, for example, the Quebec Center for Environmental Law and the Society for Nature and Parks of Quebec had taken legal action to compel the federal government to act.
“The federal government has the authority to intervene to address impending threats to species, but it lacks the initiative and guidelines to guide its actions,” Mr. DeMarco said. As such, the actions taken by Environment and Climate Change Canada do not reflect the urgency of the global biodiversity crisis. »
The Société pour la nature et les parcs du Québec hailed the commissioner’s work, which showed “the bureaucratic clumsiness” of SARA and “the lack of proactivity by Environment Canada in implementing measures to protect habitats of endangered species.”
In light of the commissioner’s findings, the Trudeau administration has committed to presenting a “plan” by the end of 2024, outlining “the timeline and resources needed” to advance the preparation of recovery programs, management plans and action plans.