Canada, host of the UN biodiversity summit, is struggling to meet its own targets
- Media Manager
- Oct 8, 2022
- 1 min read
CBC News
Written By: Jaela Bernstien
Published: October 9th, 2022
It was the spring of 2014, and practically everyone and their grandma was dancing to Pharrell Williams's catchy upbeat tune Happy, so perhaps then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be forgiven for feeling overly optimistic.
His hopeful promise, announced at a May news conference in New Maryland, N.B., was that by 2020 Canada would protect 17 per cent of its land and inland waters, and 10 per cent of marine and coastal areas. At the time, 10.5 per cent of land and only one per cent of marine area was protected.
Fast forward to 2022, federal governments have changed and those pre-pandemic days may feel like a distant memory, but one thing that remains constant is that Canada continues to struggle to meet its own biodiversity goals.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of different kinds of life that exists in a habitat — all the plants and animals that rely on one other in the delicate balance of an ecosystem.
It's declining at unprecedented rates globally, which threatens not only wildlife and natural spaces, but also human food security and genetic resources necessary for medicine and science.
When it comes to protecting the land and water that house those natural assets, the latest data show Canada is coming up short.
