The Current Issues of the Endangered Species Act, 2007 Statute and the Recommendations That Must Be Implemented Regarding the Future of ontario’s Biodiversity

The Current Issues of the Endangered Species Act, 2007 Statute, and The Recommendations That Must Be Implemented Regarding the Future of Ontario’s Biodiversity

Biodiversity is defined as the variability within or among species of plants, animals and other living organisms that inhabit the Earth or a particular ecosystem. Currently, there are 70,000 species living on Canadian grounds, ranging from mammals and birds to fish (1). Biological diversity provides the foundations for the four categories of ecosystem services. Regulating services are those that provide benefits by the regulation of ecosystem processes, provisioning services supply products made available by ecosystems, cultural services are the non-material benefits provided by ecosystems for recreational, spiritual and aesthetic uses, and supporting services that are required for the production of the first three categories. These goods and services are of utmost importance in sustaining human life and reinforcing the strength of the Canadian economy and its various sectors (1).

        Human reliance on biodiversity is exponentially increasing, placing direct and indirect impacts on certain species. Urban/rural development and the conversion of land for agricultural purposes are the most common contributors to the encroachment on habitat and its removal (10). Currently, the Species at Risk Act has recorded an alarming 518 species as at risk in Canada (1). This number makes it apparent that increasing economic growth puts a huge stress on the Earth’s biodiversity with resulting drastic losses. In Canada, the land accounting for urbanization has grown almost twice the size in fifty years (1). Therefore, if vast measures and collaborative efforts between stakeholders are not taken to solve this municipal, provincial, and ultimately universal dilemma, many species at risk and their habitats will be eradicated. On a provincial level, how should Ontario’s provincial government and its private sectors work in conjunction to mitigate the effects of economic development on endangered species and their habitats, while meeting the requirements of a growing population?

The Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) represents an environmental statute that regulates both public and private land use planning in Ontario to protect areas where endangered, threatened, or eradicated species inhabit, and biodiversity as a whole (7). The purposes of the ESA are outlined in Section 1 of the Act, which are

“To identify species at risk based on the best available scientific information, including information obtained from community knowledge and aboriginal traditional knowledge; to protect species that are at risk and their habitats, and to promote the recovery of species that are at risk; and to promote stewardship activities to assist in the protection and recovery of species that are at risk”. (6)