WWF
conducts Canada's
first Nature Audit
In northern
lands and waters, Canada still has opportunities to conserve nature on a grand
scale in advance of widespread industrial development, at the same time helping
to buffer against the effects of climate change and pollution from toxic
chemicals. Time-limited opportunities: northern British Columbia, southern
Yukon, southern Northwest Territories, central Quebec and Labrador.
Boreal forests
are becoming increasingly impacted from the cumulative pressures of human use.
Priority actions: 1) identify and protect intact forests needed to complete
protected areas systems; 2) adopt industry best practices (especially forestry,
oil and gas) in the surrounding landscape. Priority areas: central and northern
Alberta, central Saskatchewan, south-central Quebec and Newfoundland.
Atlantic and
Pacific waters are showing significant levels of pressure based on compounding
activities such as fisheries, aquaculture, and energy development. Despite this,
Canada’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) system remains among the least
developed in the world, and lags significantly behind our land-based system.
Priority areas: Bay of Fundy, Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Scotian Shelf and the
south coast of British Columbia.
Habitat
restoration, in aid of species recovery, must increase significantly. Priority
areas: Lower Fraser Valley, BC; mixed grass and tallgrass prairies, aspen
parkland in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; southern Ontario; the St.
Lawrence Valley in Quebec; and Prince Edward Island.
Invasive
species – costly, damaging and deadly – continue to arrive in Canada.
Priority action: a national prevention plan, which must address the treatment of
ballast water and provide adequate inspection of imported goods and their
containers, two sources of recent introductions.
Biodiversity-friendly
industry standards, such as organic agriculture and Forest Stewardship Council
certification, have been adopted on only a fraction of the Canadian landscape.
Priority action: more leadership is needed from individuals and companies to
voluntarily adopt and support these practices.
Long-lived
species with slow reproductive rates, from carnivores and whales, to turtles and
yellow cypress trees, are showing declines in almost all regions of Canada.
Priority action: Develop and implement regional recovery strategies based on the
needs of these species as a group.
The slow pace
of review and end-of-pipe approach to regulation of thousands of toxic
substances continues to threaten Canada’s biodiversity. Reductions in the use
of commercial chemicals and synthetic pesticides can best occur with the
registration and adoption of alternatives and pollution prevention approaches.
Priority areas: southern Ontario and Prince Edward Island.
The
biodiversity pressures associated with urban activities, such as pollution and
sprawl, are increasingly having far-reaching negative impacts on biodiversity.
Priority actions: implement measures to limit sprawl and support public
transportation systems.
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