| |
|
|
|
Keynote Speaker Dr. Faisal Moola
Dr.
Moola is the Director of Terrestrial Conservation and
Science at the
David Suzuki
Foundation and an adjunct professor of
Forest
Conservation at the University of Toronto. He
has published widely in scientific journals on ecology,
conservation biology, and environmental policy.
At
the foundation he leads a team of scientists, policy
analysts and public outreach experts on a number of campaigns to
educate the
public and reform environmental policy in Canada; including legal
protection of
endangered wildlife, valuation of ecosystems services, protection of
urban
agri-belts, and mitigating and adapting to climate change through
nature
conservation.
He also leads a
land-use planning project in southeastern Tibet, with the goal of
protecting
ecosystem goods and services that are critical for community health and
wellbeing.
Dr. Moola has sat on
government science committees and advised aboriginal and government
leaders. He has been instrumental in
developing
key symposia and workshops on conservation strategies, including a
critically-timed conference at the University of Toronto on protecting
forests
as a strategy of fighting climate change.
Through
his efforts he has had the honor to
contribute to some of the
most significant conservation achievements in recent Canadian history,
including the protection of over 2 million hectares of temperate
rainforest in
British Columbia, the development of new sustainability standards for
the
forestry industry to meet the exploding market for green paper and wood
products (Forest Stewardship Council) and the decision by the Ontario
government to protect at least half of the province's remaining
boreal
wilderness. He has a growing
interest in renewable energy.
Building
the Ark:
Conserving Nature for both Wildlife and Community Wellbeing.
This is a letter written by Faisal Moola to Wings Over the Rockies
The
United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of
Biodiversity. It
would be great if the year could be simply a celebration of the
Earth's
biological richness, but Biodiversity Year is occurring at a time when
non-human life on our planet is in a more perilous state than ever
before.
Scientists
warn us that our planet is undergoing a major wildlife crisis on par
with
earlier mass extinction events in the earth's history. It is
estimated that
some 17,000 species are currently threatened with extinction, including
12 per
cent of all known birds, a quarter of all known mammals and a third of
all
known amphibians. Among the most vulnerable wildlife are plants and
animals
that are well-known and well-loved by Canadians, such as caribou,
grizzly
bears, and salmon.
Take the
host province of the Wings over the Rockies Festival, for example. British Columbia is blessed with an
exceptional diversity of wildlife and wilderness, which rivals the
Serengeti or
the Great Barrier Reef in its majesty. BC is Canada's richest province
biologically, home to 76 per cent of our nation's bird species, 70 per
cent of
its freshwater fish, 60 percent of its evergreen trees, and thousands
of other
plants and animals. Well over 50,000 species are found here, and many
of these,
such as mountain goat and mountain caribou, live mostly – or only
–
in the province and nowhere else on the planet. For others, such as the
Trumpeter Swan and the Western Sandpiper, BC is a critical wintering
ground or
stopover in winged migrations that extend over thousands of kilometres. Most remarkably, unlike most places in
North America, BC still has all of the large and charismatic mega-fauna
that
were present at the time of European settlement, including grizzly
bears,
wolves, and cougars. Indeed, the province is now the last safe-haven
for most
of the large animals left on the continent. For example, grizzly bears
still
roam, feed and breed across its mountains and valleys - in special
places like
the Flathead River Valley in southeastern BC, whereas in California,
this
majestic bruin is now only found as an image on the state's flag,
having long
been eliminated from the wild.
These
statistics are not just an abstract tally. To the contrary, many
residents and
visitors to Canada have personally experienced these threatened and
endangered
species in nature – perhaps seen a grizzly bear while on a
camping trip
or hooked a salmon on one of our pristine rivers, or been dazzled by a
pod of
orca whales while kayaking. You don't even have to go far from
populated areas
to see the remaining patches of Canada's most endangered forest
ecosystem: the
Garry oak savannah, can be found in downtown Victoria! Indeed, the guts
and
feathers of a once expansive coastal douglas fir zone is today
fragmented by a
built-up mosaic of historic and recent clearcuts, crisscrossed with
roads and
hydro lines, and pockmarked with trophy homes.
British
Columbia has a rich legacy to protect yet the experts tell us that we
are
squandering our unique biological inheritance. For
example, despite having more plants and animals than any
other province, and more species in trouble, BC along with Alberta
continues to
be the only place in Canada without an Endangered Species Law to
protect the
habitat of its wildlife at risk. Such a law is a critical tool in the
'toolbox'
of conservation strategies that is needed if we are to sustain the
biological
richness that this region is blessed with.
We must
remember that without healthy ecosystems and species diversity, we
can't hope
to have healthy economies and healthy human societies. Indeed, the loss
of
species and ecosystems, affects not only the production of economic
commodities
like the food we eat, the timber we use to build our homes, and the
medicines
we use to heal ourselves, but also many non-market ecological services
that
sustain the health and wellbeing of our communities. These services
regulate
the climate, disease outbreaks, and wastes. They include cultural
services that
provide aesthetic, recreational and spiritual values; and supporting
services,
such as nutrient cycling, water purification and other natural
benefits. Sadly,
the benefits we receive from nature are often taken for granted by
policy-makers, partly due to a lack of knowledge regarding what they
are and
what they're truly worth.
The good
news is that with strong endangered-species laws, conservation-driven
land-use
planning, core protection of wildlife habitat in parks and protected
areas, and
sustainable resource development, we can successfully slow the loss of
wildlife
habitat and the accompanying declines in biodiversity.
Please
join me in celebrating the 2010 International Year of
Biodiversity.
I look
forward to meeting you at the Wings Over the Rockies Festival.
Cheers
Faisal
|
