A well-funded national environmental strategy is needed to protect Canada’s land, water, air and biodiversity.
That was one of the conclusions in a recent report discussed at a national stewardship conference held July 9 at the University of Calgary.
The State of Stewardship in Canada, which was prepared for the Centre for Environmental Stewardship and Conservation with support from Environment Canada, real estate foundations in Alberta and British Columbia and Wildlife Habitat Canada, reviewed the current state of stewardship, achievements and gaps that require attention.
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Wildlife Habitat Canada president Len Ugarenko said a lack of funding and political will holds back further improvements and progress in stewardship across Canada.
Thousands of small environmental groups are doing good work but they need to be connected to a national secretariat to share progress and ideas, he added.
“Local conservation organizations are focused on getting their work done on the ground,” he said.
Wildlife Habitat Canada is a 25-year-old non-profit organization that has directed $57 million to restoration, enhancement and conservation of wildlife habitat in Canada.
Keystone Agricultural Producers vice-president Rob Brunel said money should go to reward landowners for protecting the environment because most of the programs happen in rural areas on private land.
“We are firm believers that we should be rewarded for some of the services we provide to the general public,” said Brunel, who helped develop the Manitoba Environmental Farm Plan program.
However, the head of the Canadian Wildlife Service is not sure paying people to protect the water and land is a good idea.
Laws and regulations are in place to preserve the environment, but government prefers people to protect land, air and water by choice, said Virginia Poter.
“I think we need to be careful when we start going down that path that we do not set up a system whereby stewardship only happens when we pay for it because I think we all understand it takes a lot of actions by a lot of actors across the landscape,” she said.
Her department manages programs such as ecological gifts, habitat restoration, the invasive species partnership program, wetlands conservation and species at risk habitat protection.
She said the government is apt to ask for proof of good work before it grants more funds.
This is the fourth conference of this type since 2000 and some attending it said little has been done to further the cause of good stewardship.
Wants and needs
The report made six recommendations:
n A definition of stewardship is needed that directly relates to the conservation of land, air, water and biodiversity.
n A method to measure biodiversity and provisions of ecological goods and services targets is needed. There are no benchmarks for the effectiveness of past and present stewardship programs. Did they make a difference and are they maintained?
n A landowner survey is needed to assess what has been done and the economic impacts.
n Various projects need to be linked through government and agencies involved with stewardship.
n More funding is needed from government and private agencies because many stewardship groups say financial constraints prevent projects from starting or continuing.
n A national task force is needed to develop a sustainable national stewardship fund over 10 years to deliver the other five recommendations.
