Julie Lopez, Legal Intern for Ecovision
While most Canadians are familiar with the term ‘climate crisis’, biodiversity loss - which is considered the twin crisis to climate change - isn’t widely recognized as a pressing environmental issue by the average Canadian.
Climate change is felt acutely every day in Canada, through the increasingly scorching summers and the prevalence of extreme weather events across the country. In contrast, while species populations have steadily declined over the last 30 years, the steadiness and length of the decline hides the magnitude of the crisis. For those not specifically paying attention or purposefully ignoring the signs, Canada’s biodiversity crisis has gone mostly unnoticed.
The silence of songbirds is the tip of the iceberg
While the steadiness of the decline of biodiversity in Canada has meant that many are unaware of the crisis, this does not mean that this decline has not decimated mammal, amphibian, reptile and bird populations or devastated ecosystems. Between 1970 and 2014, mammal populations dropped 43 percent, amphibian and reptile populations dropped 34 percent, and fish populations declined by 20 per cent in Canada. Bird populations have dropped even more: monitored populations of grassland birds dropped 69 percent, aerial insectivores fell 51 percent, and shorebird populations declined by 43 percent.[1]
It is undeniable that Canada has lost a massive amount of its biodiversity. Iif we do not urgently take the necessary steps to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Canada, this crisis will worsen, leaving Canada with devastated ecosystems and its impacts.
Cue a federal biodiversity strategy and action plan
Nature Canada, a dozen other environmental and nature organizations, Indigenous organizations and scientists met in April 2022 to discuss and outline a plan for how the federal government can act to meet their commitment to halt and reverse nature loss in Canada by 2030 and achieve a full recovery for nature by 2050.[2]
The goal of this federal action plan is to put forward a proposal that includes the necessary steps to take to meet these commitments, outlines the likely challenges, and clearly establishes the requirements of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Why an action plan focused on biodiversity? Such a plan is necessary because Canada’s current legislative and policy framework simply doesn’t cut it when it comes to protecting biodiversity. Canada’s biodiversity strategy was produced almost three decades ago, in 1995, and is outdated. In fact, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development recently reported that “the federal government had no plan for achieving Canada’s biodiversity targets.”[3] In addition to lacking a plan, Canada also has no legislation that would provide accountability for setting biodiversity targets and measuring progress. Further, the design of the current legislative and policy landscape means that federal and provincial laws and policies only provide fragmented and inadequate protection for species and ecosystems.
Currently, the two main sources of environmental protection in Canada are the Species at Risk Act and the Impact Assessment Act, neither of which specifically aims to protect biodiversity.*
The Species at Risk Act takes a species-by-species approach, focusing on a small subset of species Because of this approach, it is failing to reverse population decline or protect endangered ecosystems.[4]
Meanwhile, the Impact Assessment Act, which is a “look before you leap” law for considering the climate, biodiversity and health effects of projects before they are approved, applies to roughly a dozen projects a year across Canada. With thousands of projects and activities assessed and approved under the law upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992, this act’s ability to protect biodiversity is severely limited.[5]
As Canada faces the twin climate and biodiversity crises, it is irresponsible of the federal government to limit itself to policy frameworks and laws that perpetuate biodiversity loss.[6] Canada’s biodiversity is in a state of emergency and ambitious action needs to be taken. Whether it is the biodiversity of farmlands where our food grows, of wetlands that act as carbon sinks or of urban forests that cool surrounding neighbourhoods, Canada needs to ensure that natural spaces have the short- and long-term ability to provide a home to wild species, to sustain growing populations and to mitigate the effects of extreme weather.
Canada needs its biodiversity and this is the reason why Nature Canada and its partners are proposing a Federal Biodiversity strategy and action plan.
[1] WWF-Canada, “Living Planet Report Canada: A National Look at Wildlife Loss” (2017), online: World Wildlife Fund
＜wwf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/LPRC-Executive-Summary.pdf＞.
[2] Office of the Prime Minister, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Mandate Letter (16 December 2021) online:
＜https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2021/12/16/minister-environment-and-climate-change-mandate-letter＞.
[3] Office of the Auditor General of Canada, 2018 Spring Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development to the Parliament of Canada: Report 3—Conserving Biodiversity (2018) at 3.22. https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_cesd_201804_03_e_42994.html.
[4] Hazell et al, "Federal Halt and Reverse Workshop Proceedings" (Paper delivered at the Federal Halt and Reverse Workshop Proceedings, online, April 24 2022) [unpublished].
[5] Anna Johnston & Stephen Hazell, “The Alberta Court of Appeal gets it wrong — again”, National Observer (16 May 2022), online:
＜www.nationalobserver.com＞.
[6] Supra note 2.