The endangered spotted owl (Specie at risk in Canada) Photo credit: Wayne Lankinen
Prevent a Biodiversity Crisis
What is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is shorthand for biological diversity, the variety of life on Earth. It means all life forms—from the smallest bacterium to the largest trees—the totality of all the different:
Scientists have estimated that there are between 10 and 100 million species on Earth. But to date only 1.5 million of these have actually been named and classified by scientists, and only about 150,000 have been studied by scientists.
Why Do We Need It?
The health of many Canadians depends upon pharmaceutical products containing ingredients found only in higher plants. Even though less than 5 percent of the higher plant species have been chemically analyzed, one-quarter of all prescription drugs have ingredients derived from these plants.
The vulnerable eastern prairie white-fringed orchid (Specie at risk in Canada) Photo credit: Robert McCaw
Our economy depends on sustainably utilizing biodiversity. In Canada, our current use of just a few biological resources is conservatively valued at $31 billion per year (not including industrial processing). This figure doesn't include our $25 billion per year tourism industry which is largely dependent upon Canada's wilderness heritage.
The food we eat is also derived from wild plants and animals. Saving the genetic diversity of the wild sources of our foods ensures the availability of the genes that will protect our nearly-genetically-identical domestic crops and animals against diseases, pests and climate change.
Our planet's life system as a whole is kept stable, resilient and healthy by the multitude of ecological services performed by natural ecosystems—including purifying and recycling water, building, nourishing and stabilizing soils, providing oxygen and carbon dioxide balance and buffering climate change.
The Crisis is Real
Earth is now losing species at a rate about 1,000 times faster than normal— faster even than the "great extinction" of the dinosaurs. Ninety-nine percent of species extinctions are caused by humans—primarily due to our degradation and eliminatioin of the wild ecosystems which harbour diverse life forms and gene pools. Every 15 seconds, 1 acre (0.4 ha) of Canadian wilderness is destroyed. Scientists estimate that three-quarters of Canada is at significant risk of biodiversity loss. As the collapse of the northern cod fishery illustrates, the cost of unsustainable use of biological resources is enormous.
New Laws and Action Needed Now!
The Federal government committed Canada to protecting its biodiversity when it signed the international Biodiversity Convention in 1992. Yet we permit certain forestry, agricultural, fishery and mining practices to destroy biodiversity. We also have no federal laws to protect endangered species and their habitats, although federal environment minister Sheila Copps recently committed to filling this gap. Despite a federal pledge to protect at least 12 percent of Canada with representative samples of each of our country's 465 natural regions by the year 2000, to date only 2.2 percent of our lands and less than 1 percent of our oceans have been protected in national parks. If Canada is to set an example for the world, it must put its commitments into action now by:
