Terrestrial Endangerment: Legislation and Conservation

Sheldon and Justin

As undergraduate students at Memorial University of Newfoundland, we will be writing a conservation blog series as part of our Conservation Biology course.  We will update our page weekly, keeping up to date with the effectiveness and, in some cases, ineffectiveness of endangered species legislation. 

Where does Newfoundland stand compared to Canada and the rest of the World when it come listing endangered species?  What legislation (i.e. law and policy) is out there to protect both local and global diversity of terrestrial plants and animals?

Over the following weeks, we hope to address these questions.  Our focus will be on how Newfoundland’s endangered species legislation compares to other jurisdictions nationally and globally.  With extinction rates 100 times higher than natural levels¹ (Figure 1), we will highlight the ways that legislation can be implemented to protect endangered species, as well as provide insight as to how governments can better conserve the natural diversity of life on Earth.

Figure 1.  A comparison of historic extinction rates (per 1000 species per 1000 years) to recent and projected extinction rates.  Recent rates of extinction being 100 to 1000 times greater than the historic past, with future predictions of extinction being more than ten times higher than the current rate (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment²).

With low levels of public knowledge and awareness of biodiversity loss¹, we plan to provide the background knowledge required to become informed on current threats to plant and animal diversity, and the legislation established to conserve and protect endangered species. 

Endangered species legislation may provide the groundwork for conservation practices, but as species-ecosystem interactions are complex and often unpredictable, there will inevitably be successes and failures.  We will address the pros and cons of endangered species legislation (e.g. endangered species listing), and highlight the effective approaches to endangered species management.

But why is it important to understand the legislation behind endangered species conservation?

Extinction rates have skyrocketed mainly due to human impacts, such as deforestation, urbanization, and agriculture¹.  With increasing degradation to ecosystems¹ there is a need to implement laws that protect vital habitats to preserve biodiversity and reduce extinction rates.  By drawing on the successes locally in Newfoundland, as well as nationally and globally, we can address the current need for endangered species management.

It is also important to promote public knowledge and awareness, as information about the threats to biodiversity and the mitigation of potential threats is often lacking¹.  Reviewing the endangered species legislation that is already in place, we can see if the legislative laws and policies are being implemented and enforced to best conserve endangered species.

Our goal is to highlight conservation issues and the legislative practices that have been implemented in an attempt to conserve endangered species.  We will begin with endangered species legislation in Newfoundland and Labrador, and over the semester expand to Canadian and international legislative practices.

For more information see:

Convention on Biological Diversity at http://www.cbd.int/

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment at http://www.maweb.org/en/Index.aspx

References:

¹Chandra, A., and A, Idrisova.  2011.  Convention on Biological Diversity: a review of national

            challenges and opportunities for implementation.  Biodiversity Conservation 20:3295-

            3316.

²Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  2005.  Millennium ecosystem assessment findings.

            Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.  Retrieved on February 16, 2012 at

            http://www.maweb.org/en/Index.aspx