Today I released my report on the Environmental Commissioner’s Soil-Carbon Roundtable, entitled “Investing in Soils for a Sustainable Future”, held last year in Guelph. (Click for more information, to watch presentations or to download the report.) It is an intriguing document because it contains a good measure of both hope and of frustration.

Hope arises from its revelation of broad areas of consensus among experts and stakeholders, confirming our common awareness of the vital importance of soil organic matter (SOM) — not only to our food supply, but to our water, our air, our climate, our biodiversity, and our economy. (see “The Roots of Sustainability: Engaging the Soil Carbon Solution” in my 2011 Annual Report.)

Frustration arises, however, from the report’s lack of consensus on how to ensure that SOM levels rise and then stay high.  We run the risk, too common in Ontario these days, of simply letting the status quo continue, while failing to take bold action.

Other jurisdictions have recognized the fundamental connections between sustainable agriculture and food security, soil health and a healthy environment, and soil-carbon levels and climate change. In 2011, Australia introduced the Carbon Farming Initiative, which caps carbon emissions by industry, exempts agriculture from the caps, and then allows farmers to sell the carbon credits they acquire when they adopt management measures that sequester carbon, including those that build SOM.

Here in Canada, Alberta has an intensity-based cap on carbon emissions for its largest businesses – a cap that is reduced each year, therefore requiring constant improvement. One of the compliance options for these businesses is to invest in carbon offsets, which include no-till agriculture, a management practice that raises SOM levels in the dry prairie soils.

Ontario has its own unique soils, climate, and ecology, so we need our own made-in-Ontario soil-carbon policies and protocols. We must get past the arguments about what management practices and incentive systems work best and just get going on this vitally important investment strategy. We must quickly create (or adapt other jurisdictions’) measurement and  incentive tools, protocols, and programs, so that we can measure and monitor our progress. There are many innovative examples upon which to draw, so let’s get started.

Our farmers feed us, but they also have the ability to help us prepare for the future. Their work can mitigate climate change, build ecological resilience, sustain our natural environment, protect our water supplies, guard our biodiversity, and generally enhance our quality of life. However, to do all this they need our help. Like any investment, change always involves some level of cost and of risk. Since we will all benefit from these investments in soil, the costs and the risks should be shared, not borne by farmers alone.

Today I am pleased to announce that all of the ECO’s work on biodiversity is now available in one, comprehensive collection on a new website – Biodiversity Ontario. The site features articles from the ECO’s reports over the past twelve years, on topics such as invasive species, wildlife, endangered species, climate change, protected areas, natural heritage, and the role of government. You can also read ECO special reports on biodiversity: The Last Line of Defence: A Review of Ontario’s New Protections for Species at Risk, containing my review of the Endangered Species Act, 2007; and Biodiversity: A Nation’s Commitment, an Obligation for Ontario, released in 2012 to urge the government to come up with a new strategy to stem the continuing decline in Ontario’s species and natural spaces.

The ECO’s work has played a key role in framing the conversation on biodiversity in Ontario, and has been instrumental in crafting the solutions now being implemented for its conservation. For example, for many years I have been calling on the provincial government to create a strategic plan of action to preserve and protect Ontario’s biodiversity. In December 2012, the Ontario government responded to this call to action, and released its Plan to Conserve Biodiversity, which sets out the government’s commitments to actions to protect biodiversity.

I hope the site will be a valuable resource for Ontarians to learn about the province’s vast biological diversity, as well as the challenges faced in protecting it. I also hope that the site will encourage a dialogue about the role of government and the public in the conservation of biodiversity. The site will continue to grow as the ECO tracks ongoing issues, emerging trends, and government decisions that impact biological diversity.

I invite you to explore the new Biodiversity Ontario site, and look forward to hearing your feedback.

* Photo credit: MNR

Marten in spruce tree.
Photo courtesy of the USFWS.

ABSTRACT: In 2011, the Government of Ontario, Canada enacted the Far North Act, 2010 to protect ecological systems and areas of cultural value in northern Ontario in an interconnected network of protected areas.  This law establishes that at least 225,000 square kilometres of northern Ontario, known as the Far North, will be protected through the creation of community based land use plans.  A central purpose of the Far North Act, 2010 is to create a significant role for First Nation communities in land use planning, which is cast as a joint responsibility with the Government of Ontario. The maintenance of biological diversity, ecological processes and ecological functions, including the storage and sequestration of carbon, are key objectives of this land use planning initiative. This law sets an ambitious target for protected areas coverage; once implemented, terrestrial protected area coverage will cover 26.5 per cent of the Province of Ontario, greatly exceeding the international Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2020 target of 17 per cent coverage for governments.

This article was published in Natural Areas Journal, Volume 32(3), pp. 300-315, 2012

The report is available by subscription here or by contacting the ECO Resource Centre Coordinator.

I have been critical in the past that – since 2010 – the Ontario government doesn’t even have a plan of action to protect, conserve and restore our province’s biodiversity. In my 2012 Special Report to the Ontario legislature – Biodiversity: A Nation’s Commitment, an Obligation for Ontario  - I underscored the need for the Ontario government to take responsibility for biodiversity, to have a strategic plan to address the international Aichi Biodiversity Targets, and to immediately act.  A successful plan must take a united, government-wide approach.  It cannot be the task of the Ministry of Natural Resources alone, and it must have strong political support at the highest level.

The Ontario government has now posted its proposed Plan to Conserve Biodiversity on the Environmental Registry for public comment.  It’s now up to you to share your ideas on whether the government’s proposal rises to the challenge.

Click here to comment on the proposed Ontario Government Plan to Conserve Biodiversity.  The public comment period runs until August 6, 2012.

For more reading about biodiversity conservation in Ontario, you can check out the following sources:

-          The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s previous reporting on biodiversity

-          State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2010 (Ontario Biodiversity Council)

-          Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 (Convention on Biological Diversity)

Technical difficulties prevented this blog’s posting on Friday, in time for World Oceans Day. We regret the delay.

World Oceans Day – an idea Canada first proposed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the United Nations officially recognized in 2009 – is celebrated every June 8^th to honour the world’s oceans, celebrate the marine life within them, appreciate the oceans’ intrinsic value, and recognize the challenges they face.

Here in Ontario, we can celebrate World Oceans Day by recognizing and appreciating Ontario’s own connection to the seas. Many Ontarians might be surprised to realize that Ontario boasts a marine coast – on Hudson and James Bays – where a variety of marine life can be found. This includes marine mammals, like polar bears, seals and even whales.  Although Ontario’s marine mammals may be far from the public eye, these magnificent animals have unique contributions to the biodiversity and natural heritage of the province, bringing with it an obligation to protect their future.

Polar bears are distributed globally all over the arctic, and most of the bears found along Ontario’s marine coast belong to the Southern Hudson Bay subpopulation (≈ 900 animals) – the most southern population in the world. While stable over the past 20 years, this subpopulation is believed to be at an ecological “tipping point”. The greatest threat to these bears is climate change, which is expected to melt sea ice and reduce bears’ access to mating and feeding platforms, affect the distribution of prey, reduce permafrost and the availability of maternal den sites, and affect bears’ growth and reproductive rates. As a result, scientists fear that the subpopulations of polar bears found in Ontario will be wiped out within the next 45 years.

Ringed seals and bearded seals – the primary prey of polar bears – are also highly dependent on sea ice. Found all over the arctic, they can be seen in Ontario during ice-free periods along the Hudson and James Bay coasts and in large river estuaries where they use boat docks, gravel bars and shorelines to “haul-out” and rest. While the distributions of these animals are likely driven by food availability and ice conditions (both of which are expected to be affected by climate change), human hunting and predation by polar bears are likely the main causes of mortality.

Between July and October, about a few hundred walruses haul out along the Ontario coast of Hudson Bay, on shoals near Cape Henrietta Maria. These shoals may provide a refuge for walruses, since Cree hunters in the area do not have a strong tradition of walrus hunting, unlike hunters from Nunavut and northern Quebec on Hudson Bay. Walruses have a low reproductive rate, narrow diet and restricted seasonal distribution, making the species vulnerable to environmental perturbations and particularly to over-hunting.  In 2006, the federal Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Committee (COSEWIC) reported that the Atlantic walrus “is near to qualifying for threatened status and requires an effective plan to manage hunting.”  And while COSEWIC has identified the Atlantic walrus as a species of special concern, the Atlantic walrus has not yet been listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) or Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). Moreover, current regulations on hunting walruses in Canada (and trading walrus parts internationally) offer limited protection, and it is unknown whether the few hunting quotas that have been set are sufficient to prevent over-harvesting.

Perhaps in an attempt to increase Ontarians’ awareness and appreciation for the province’s wild marine mammals, in September 2011, MNR tweeted that “beluga whales live in Ontario (and not just at Marine Land).” While such a claim might surprise most Ontarians, the Western Hudson Bay population of beluga whales does indeed spend its summers primarily off the western coast of Ontario and Manitoba, entering the estuaries of large rivers, perhaps to moult, feed, calve or avoid predators. The most significant threat to this population is likely hunting. Even though there is no known beluga hunt in Ontario, the Western Hudson Bay population is heavily hunted in parts of its range (by western Hudson Bay and southeast Baffin communities). In 2004, COSEWIC identified the Western Hudson Bay population of belugas as a species of special concern due to the unknown consequences of hunting on this little-studied population. While the beluga has not yet been listed under SARA and is therefore only afforded federal protection under the Fisheries Act, in Ontario, beluga whales are listed under the ESA as a species of special concern.

The marine mammals that inhabit and visit Ontario’s marine coast sadly face numerous threats, particularly as a result of a warming climate. Climate change will have profound effects – some of which may be unpredictable and transformative – on arctic and sub-arctic mammals. For example, as climate change continues to melt sea ice, killer whales (orcas) – which are generally prevented from surfacing and navigating ice-covered waters because of their immense dorsal fins – may be able to access previously unreachable waters and feed on belugas, seals and other marine mammals in Hudson Bay. Because killer whales are major predators that can reshape marine ecosystems, killer whales could trigger an ecological shift, replacing polar bears as the arctic’s dominant natural predator.

Further Reading

• Stewart, D.B. and Lockhart, W.L. 2005. An Overview of the Hudson Bay Marine Ecosystem.  Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. No. 2586.
• Tonge, M.B. and T.L. Pulfer. 2011. Recovery Strategy for Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) in Ontario. Ontario Recovery Strategy Series. Prepared for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario. vii + 54 pp.
• COSEWIC 2006. COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the Atlantic walrus Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. ix + 65 pp.
• COSEWIC 2004. COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. ix + 70 pp.
• Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2010. “Climate Change and Biodiversity Turmoil.” Redefining Conservation, ECO Annual Report, 2009/10. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 32-36.

Ontario has a large marine coastline that spans over 1000 kilometres along James and Hudson Bays.  The ECO will be discussing the province’s marine biodiversity in an upcoming report.  In the meantime, this year’s focus on marine biodiversity provides an opportunity for a more general discussion of Ontario’s aquatic biodiversity.

There are more than 250,000 lakes in the province, including the Great Lakes that alone hold over 20 percent of the world’s freshwater and provide 3000 kilometres of coastal shoreline habitat.  With all this water, Ontario holds a great diversity of aquatic ecological communities and systems, and provides habitat for an amazing variety of freshwater species, ranging from tiny shrimp-like crustaceans to giant water bugs to carnivorous plants  to mudpuppies to American eels.

Should we be concerned about the overall health of Ontario’s aquatic biodiversity?

There are some indications that we should be worried. The State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2010 showed some deteriorating trends in the Great Lakes.  For example, shoreline hardening has increased, destroying coastal habitats for nearshore ecological communities; scientists have also observed drastic declines in the abundance of Diporeia, an important crustacean prey species that plays a central role in the offshore food web.  The Canada-wide Wild Species Reports show that across the country, many groups of aquatic species are at risk of extinction or extirpation, including Ontario species; for example, 61 per cent of the country’s freshwater mussels and 27 per cent of freshwater fishes are at risk or are potentially at risk.  Meanwhile, we still don’t have the essential trend data for other important indicators on the status of Ontario’s aquatic biodiversity, such as alterations to stream flow and fragmentation by dams.

What could the provincial government do to better protect aquatic species and communities in Ontario?  The ECO has recommended that the provincial government establish a statutory responsibility for monitoring and reporting on the state of the province’s biodiversity, so we can better understand trends and prevent species from becoming endangered.  Further, in our 2012 Special Report, Biodiversity: A Nation’s Commitment, An Obligation for Ontario, we highlighted the need for the government to create a strategic plan of action to conserve, protect and recover our province’s biological diversity.

Another option could be to design protected areas specifically to conserve Ontario’s aquatic biodiversity.  As the ECO noted in our 2006/2007 Annual Report, the province could create aquatic class provincial parks under the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006.  Unfortunately, the section of the Act authorizing this classification has never been proclaimed, so this important policy tool has yet to be used.

The ECO has previously discussed a number of other issues related to Ontario’s aquatic biodiversity and options for protecting it.  Some recent examples include:

• Engaging Solutions on the Great Lakes: What steps could the Ontario government take right now to protect and restore the Great Lakes biodiversity?  The ECO identified a number of policies and programs the province could implement, including: reporting on pollutant loadings; banning Asian carp imports dead or alive; defending wetlands; curbing agricultural runoff; and championing the Great Lakes.

• Ontario’s Commercial Fisheries: Ontario has a long history of commercial fishing, but the types of species targeted today are different from those caught in the past – due to historical population collapses amidst overfishing, pollution, habitat loss and the absence of regulation.  The ECO examined Ontario’s current commercial fisheries policies and urged Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to develop a publicly available policy to explain how it allocates fish between different uses, such as commercial fisheries, recreational fisheries and conservation.

• Oversight of Aquaculture in Lake Huron:  There are numerous ecological concerns associated with the practice of fish farming in floating net cages in open waters.  The ECO found inspection rates at cage aquaculture sites in Lake Huron and Georgian Bay were low, and even when negative environmental impacts were detected, little enforcement action was taken.

• Dams and American Eels: Fragmented rivers and streams have damaging effects on many aquatic species, including the endangered American eel.  The ECO believes that MNR should require all new dams to allow natural passage of fish by installing fish ladders.

For more on what the ECO has previously written about biodiversity, including aquatic biodiversity, please see ecoissues.ca.

As pointed out in The Roots of Sustainability: Engaging the Soil Carbon Solution in the ECO’s 2010-11 Annual Report, earth’s atmosphere contains too much carbon and our soils contain too little. Farmers can do a lot to change this situation by adopting agricultural methods that sequester carbon, as opposed to let it oxidize into CO₂. This not only mitigates climate change, but also provides a host of other benefits, such as reduced soil erosion, flood protection, cleaner water, and enhanced biodiversity.

The Commissioner’s Roundtable hopes to create more discussion about how society can partner with farmers to share the costs and risk of transition to a richer soil carbon farming future.

The Commissioner will be live tweeting and recording these speeches at this round table.

Follow @Ont_ECO or #ecosoils to learn more.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to for updates of these speeches.

Below is a list of speakers

Click here to download the biographies of these speakers.

8:45 – 9:30 Dr. Paul Voroney (University of Guelph)

8:45 – 9:30 Adam Hayes and Anne Verhallen (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)

10:30 – 11:15 Doug Weatherbee (SoilDoctor.org)

10:30 – 11:15 Dr. Johannes Lehmann (Cornell University)

1:30-2:15 Ian Campbell (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

1:30-2:15 Karen Haugen-Kozyra (The Prasino Group)

3:15-3:30 Don McCabe (Ontario Federation of Agriculture)

Despite their ecological and hydrological importance, the protection of wetlands in Ontario is often at odds with urbanization, agriculture, and other types of development.  Since pre-settlement time, we have lost 72 per cent or 1.4 million hectares of the wetlands in southern Ontario. Historically, wetlands were viewed as wastelands and were drained for other land uses such as crops, livestock pastures and urban development.  Unfortunately not much has changed today.  In 2010, Ducks Unlimited Canada released a report, Southern Ontario Wetland Conversion Analysis, which showed that wetland loss is continuing at an alarming rate.

While there are some policies in Ontario aimed at protecting wetlands, there are many loopholes that need to be fixed.  For example, the Provincial Policy Statement (2005) restricts development and site alteration in provincially significant wetlands designated by the Ministry of Natural Resources.  Unfortunately, this protection only applies to wetlands that have been evaluated and designated, and many remain unevaluated.  Even if a wetland is designated as provincially significant, the Provincial Policy Statement allows municipal drains and infrastructure like wastewater and water systems, highways, and roads to be built within its boundaries.  Local conservation authorities also regulate development and site alteration in and around wetlands, regardless of their significance, to protect life and property from flooding and erosion hazards.  Unfortunately, provincial funding to conservation authorities has not increased since the 1990s, which severely constraints their ability to maintain existing levels of flood protection and to deal with emerging threats like climate change.

Today is World Wetlands Day – the date on which the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was signed in 1971.  The treaty is a framework for countries to conserve and plan for the “wise use” of all the wetlands in their territories and designated Wetlands of International Importance.  Canada is a signatory to this convention and eight Wetlands of International Importance are located in Ontario. Aichi Biodiversity Target 5 under the International Convention on Biological Diversity, to which Canada is also a signatory,  calls upon governments to reduce the rate of loss of all natural habitats at least in half and where feasible, close to zero by 2020. In my recent special report, Biodiversity: A Nation’s Commitment, an Obligation for Ontario, I identified that the constitutional responsibility for meeting the Aichi Biodiversity targets lies with Ontario and the other provincial governments.  Today, and every day, we should remember how valuable Ontario’s wetlands are.  The provincial government should ensure that the small fraction of wetlands that remain in southern Ontario are conserved and protected and that the rate of loss is reduced or eliminated altogether.

“The Ontario government did adopt a Biodiversity Strategy in 2005,” says Gord Miller. “Unfortunately, it expired in 2010, and the government has so far chosen not to adopt an updated plan.  Our government cannot avoid its obligation,” says Miller, “to guide Ontario’s response to this urgent crisis.”

In 2010, Canada met with almost 200 nations in Nagoya, Japan and agreed on 20 biodiversity conservation targets that should be achieved by 2020.   But the Commissioner says most of the constitutional responsibility for meeting these targets lies with Ontario and the other provincial governments. “Efforts to halt the loss of biodiversity must be implemented at the provincial level if they are to be effective. And Ontario won’t be able to do that unless it has a new Biodiversity Strategy.”

In Ontario, the most significant threats to the province’s species and natural spaces are habitat degradation, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation and pollution.  The Commissioner has previously warned about the lack of action to safeguard the province’s 200 species at risk such as snapping turtles, cougars, and Jefferson salamanders. Gord Miller has said the government also needs to address the threats from invasive species like Asian carp, and protect wetlands and woodlands in southern Ontario.

The Environmental Commissioner says, “the federal government has promised, during the current International Decade for Biodiversity, to conserve biodiversity on behalf of all Canadians.” It is imperative that the Government of Ontario acts quickly and come up with a plan to implement those commitments.  This requires a new Biodiversity Strategy. Rhetoric alone will not suffice.”

-30-

 The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario is appointed by the Legislative Assembly to be the province’s independent environmental watchdog, reporting publicly on the government’s environmental decision making.

Download the special report “Biodiversity: A Nation’s Commitment, an Obligation for Ontario” and the Commissioner’s opening remarks to the Legislature at http://www.eco.on.ca/

Watch the Commissioner’s comments of this report here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U-6mWZcio4

For more information, contact:

Maria Leung

Communications and Outreach Coordinator

Environmental Commissioner of Ontario

416-325-3371

1-800-701-6454

maria.leung@eco.on.ca

For support in French, please contact Jean-Marc Filion at 705-476-9665.

Aussi disponible en français