Comment on this Story
Email This Story
Environment Canada’s Woodland Caribou Recovery Strategy Now Requires Aboriginal Consultation
April 9th, 2009Press Release, Canadian Boreal Initiative
OTTAWA, April 9, 2009: The Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) welcomes the release of the scientific report on woodland caribou, issued today by Environment Canada. Going forward, the success of the recovery strategy will hinge on habitat protection and land use planning in partnership with Aboriginal communities.
“This report is a good first step,” said Larry Innes, Executive Director of CBI. “To be truly successful, the strategy must now engage with First Nations communities in consultation and accommodation to ensure that they are fully involved in woodland caribou conservation.”
The woodland caribou, which live in Canada’s Boreal region, are listed as ‘threatened’ under the federal Species At Risk Act. The scientific report describes methods for identifying critical habitat necessary to for the recovery of viable populations of woodland caribou.
“Woodland caribou won’t survive a business-as-usual approach,” said Mr. Innes. “Woodland caribou are a primary indicator of healthy, intact Boreal forest, and they have disappeared from large areas of their former range as a consequence of decisions we’ve made. Many scientists believe that woodland caribou populations will continue to decline unless land use practices change. Our decisions today will determine whether they persist in the future.”
CBI is working with members of the Boreal Leadership Council, which comprises leading resource companies, environmental groups, First Nations, financial and retail institutions, to advance woodland caribou conservation, including ways of effectively integrating Aboriginal rights and knowledge into successful strategic collaborations.
“By working with Aboriginal communities, governments, environmental organizations, the forest, energy and mining industries, and others, we believe it possible to act together with governments to protect critical habitat for the recovery of healthy and sustainable populations of this iconic Canadian animal,” continued Innes.
“The scientific case for immediate action to protect woodland is convincing. Government now needs to re-double its efforts to bring Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal traditional knowledge holders into the conversation about how conservation measures to protect habitat can be achieved through new protected areas, land use planning and other innovative tools,” concluded Innes.
-30-
The Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) works with First Nations, governments, conservation organizations, industry leaders and others to link science, policy and conservation solutions across Canada’s Boreal forest. CBI works to advance the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework as a balanced vision for conservation and sustainable development.
The Boreal Framework recommends that at least half of Canada’s Boreal Forest be set aside in large protected areas with cutting edge sustainable development in the remainder of the landscape. More than 1,500 scientists and a diverse coalition of conservation, First Nations, and industry groups support the Boreal Framework.
For more information, please contact:
Suzanne Fraser, Director of communications
Canadian Boreal Initiative
sfraser
T: 613.232.2530
