Support for assessing species at risk no match for global biodiversity crisis

Ottawa, 7 November 2024—A report released today by Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco concluded that Environment and Climate Change Canada is not providing the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada with the support it needs to complete species at risk status assessments and reassessments, which are needed to protect and recover them.

Environment and Climate Change Canada is required under the Species at Risk Act to provide the committee with the financial, administrative, and technical support it needs to carry out this work. The department set a target to support only 60 assessments—including reassessments—in 2023–24 without formal analysis to demonstrate why the target was chosen. It did not provide the committee with the support necessary to complete the 60.

“With Environment and Climate Change Canada’s yearly limit of 60 assessments and reassessments, it would take the committee almost 30 years to assess prioritized species, and over a century to assess those that are potentially at risk,” said Mr. DeMarco. “The department’s limit also makes it impossible for the committee to keep up with reassessments, which the act requires on a 10‑year cycle for every species at risk.

“Given the scale of the global biodiversity crisis, the current rate of assessments and reassessments negatively affects Canada’s ability to protect plants and animals from disappearing because of human activity.”

Species status assessments are the first step in the process for protecting and recovering species at risk under the Species at Risk Act. These assessments are completed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, an independent committee that provides advice to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Species are eligible to be listed for protection once they are assessed by the committee.