Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy

Yesterday the Ontario Biodiversity Council released “Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy” to coordinate conservation action in the province over the next decade. Its primary goal is to “mainstream” biodiversity considerations into the decision making of government, industry, ENGOs, landowners, scientists, communities and individuals. It is definitely worth a read and will hopefully generate lots of discussion among biodiversity scientists. For example, a few of my comments…

The Good: The emphasis on public education and explicit biodiversity curricula at all levels.

The Bad: Barely any mention of protecting biodiversity in Ontario’s agricultural landscapes (pretty pictures of sunsets on farms don’t count). And, as Cécile pointed out, barely any mention of coordinating efforts with other provinces or states.

The Ugly: No explicit target for controlling habitat loss or fragmentation (the biggest threats to biodiversity!). Instead they focused on controlling invasive species and setting aside 17% of ecosystems in protected-area networks. What about managing the other 83% of the ecosystems?