1. COSEWIC to SARA Challenges and Opportunities for Species Recovery
Chris Johnson
University of Northern British Columbia

2. CANADIAN’S SUPPORT FOR PROTECTING SPECIES AT RISK
Canadian Wildlife Federation Ipsos Online Poll:
96% want the federal government do at least as much (34%) or more (62%) for species at risk.
92% believe federal government should maintain or increase its financial investment in species at risk.
52% of Canadians believe the federal government must bear the primary responsibility of recovering species at risk.

3. https://www. princegeorgecitizen

4. And this isn’t a problem that is going to disappear by itself or without some thoughtful consideration of how we address British Columbia’s natural heritage.
Blue List - ecological communities, native species and subspecies in B.C. that are of special concern (formerly vulnerable).
Red List - ecological communities, native species and subspecies in B.C. that are at a high risk of extinction (T or E)
As of April species, with 886 being Red Listed

6. Three-Step Process for SAR Recovery
Assess the risk of extinction
Choose to list a species (or not)
$ Reconciliation
Recovery planning and actions
Time
Animals
Time
Animals

7. COSEWIC meets twice/year and assesses ~20 species/meetingNo
Federal Minister of the Environment &CC
Yes - listing
No Protection
SARA Prohibitions & Recovery
Provinces/ Territories x 13
Federal BIP
Parks Canada
Can Wild Service
DFO
ATK
Non-gov Science x 3
Terr Mammal
Molluscs
Vascul Plant
Herpetofauna
Arthropods
Birds
Fresh Fish
Mari Mammal
Moss Lichen
Marine Fish
COSEWIC meets twice/year and assesses ~20 species/meeting

8. Consultation Process 24 months: terrestrial species
36 months: marine species, extended consultation
Comments: May 13, 2019

9. Who Gets Listed?

10. Recovery Planning…Most Difficult Step!
Basic Prohibitions for Listed Species
no harvesting/killing a species
do not damage/destroy Residence
Recovery Planning for Listed Species
identify Critical Habitat
develop Recovery Strategy/Action Plan
BUT….

11. Recovery Planning…Most Difficult Step!
SARA – The Limit and Reach of Federal Conservation Law
SARA only applies on federal lands!
federal lands are 1% of BC
province obligated to recover listed species
failure of province to act = federal intervention/federal order (S. 80 “threat”)

12. The long, long federal recovery timeline for species that are disappearing quickly!
2 or 3 years
Step #2
Federal consultation & listing decision
Step #3
Develop recovery strategy
1 or 2 years
Step #1
COSEWIC
Assessment
3 years
3 years
3 years
The Many Delays
Delayed listing, recovery planning & actions
??? years

13. “Endangered and Threatened marine fishes face the greatest bias and receive the least protection: their SARA decisions are typically delayed with almost 5 years usually passing between their COSEWIC assessment and listing decision; most (70.6%) are then denied listing…”
These delays are well documented and even published in the peer-reviewed literature.
Endangered and Threatened marine fishes face the greatest bias and receive the least protection: their SARA decisions are typically delayed with almost 5 years usually passing between their COSEWIC assessment and listing decision; most (70.6%) are then denied listing…

14. When it comes to protections there are many reasons that SARA is not working as well as it should – and much of that ineffectiveness is due to purposeful delays. We have a 6 to 8 year process window that is often much longer.
Plains Bison – assessed as Threatened in 2013 – no listing decision yet!

15. Cost of Ineffective Legislation
Price of not conserving species at risk quickly and efficiently
Risk of leaning on a broken SARA:
lose our natural heritage
fail to meet international commitments
federal action on provincial land (S.80)
crisis conservation – delay means greater direct and indirect costs
Failure of SARA

16. Delayed recovery means everyone loses…
Recovery / Opportunity Costs
No. Animals
As populations get smaller and social and cultural costs increase the probability of recovery decreases.
Likelihood of species
recovery
Time

17. To address those risks we can try and make SARA more efficient and nimble; but again this is a federal process; why not take ownership of conservation planning in BC? The current government is certainly trying to do this although progress has been very slow.
This is the mandate letter from Premier Horgan asking the Honourable George Heyman to develop an endangered species act for BC
“Enact an endangered species law and harmonize other laws to ensure they are all working towards the goal of protecting our beautiful province.”

18. Recommendations:
Mandate an independent oversight committee
Adopt automatic listing
Implement automatic protections on Crown land
Ensure sustained funding
“We offer the government evidence-based recommendations for key features of legislation to identify and recover species at risk.”

19. Conserving species like caribou is not going to be easy, but having the tools in place and addressing these issue proactively is certainly a large step forward from the crisis situation we are in today.