Stewart elgie foundations of sara
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Transcript of Stewart elgie foundations of sara
The SARA Saga, or
Can You lead an (endangered) horse to water and make it drink?
Stewart Elgie
University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law and Director, Institute of Environment
Species At Risk Act (SARA)
6th great extinction shock – Over 1,000 times ‘natural’ rate
– Big threat is loss of habitat (>80%)
The most significant env’t law passed by Parliament in 20 years
Not just about critters – Canada’s key ecosystem law
Purpose: “to prevent wildlife species from becoming extinct, [and] to provide for the recovery of species that are endangered or threatened …”
SARA Saga
‘92: Canada signs Rio Biodi Convention
7 year campaign (ENGOS, scientists)
- Aboriginal support and involvement - Major media coverage
Task Force (multi-stakeholder) - Agreed on End Spec Bill (ex. one point)
3 bills (‘96-01); 2 died w/ early elections
Sausage making: – Final law rewritten (extensively) by Env.
Committee (with all-party support),
– un-rewritten by Env Minister, then partly fixed by PMO at 11th hour
i.e. It’s a bit messy (in places)
SARA: Flow Chart (condensed)
T + 9(?) months
GIC Lists species at risk (+ reasons if ‘no’)
Time = 0
COSEWIC proposes listing (incl. ATK)
T + 1-2 years
Recov. Strategy, must ID critical habitat (‘to extent possible’)
T + 6 months
Fed areas: Minister must prohibit CH destruction (unless already ‘protected’)
T + ??
Prov’l areas: GIC may apply safety net if no prov’l ‘effective protecton’
Stewardship Agreement
Permit (3 part test) - All rbl alternatives - All fsbl mitigation - Won’t ‘jeopardize’
=
Action Plan (T + ??) Measures to protect species & habitat
SARA’s Structure / Aim
Aim is to make listing & protection the norm, with limited ‘off ramps’ …
... to drive people into permit/agreement process, which impose conditions for managing land/water
But if off ramps are too wide, never get there
Not List
Don’t ID CH
CH not protected
Get permit/ agreement w/ mgmt conditions
COSEWIC finds species at risk
No recov strategy
SARA Study
Legal + Science Team @ uOttawa - with CWS support (to 2008/9)
2005-2012 Track SARA implementation, and factors explaining decisions to not list/protect
Examined (mainly) – COSEWIC recommendations – GIC Listing – Recov strategies – Crit Hab identify & protect
All results are preliminary
Has SARA had any effect on the likelihood of change in status on reassessment?
The proportion of species showing higher status on reassess-ment has increased slightly since SARA.
Change in status at most recent reassessment
Increase No change Decrease
Pro
po
rtio
n
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Pre-Pre SARA
Pre-Post SARA
1. COSEWIC (assess and recommend)
Has SARA had an effect on the likelihood of COSEWIC accepting a status report recommendation?
COSEWIC usually makes the same status finding as the status report author(s), and this has not changed pre-post SARA.
Sample
Pre-SARA Post-SARA
Pro
po
rtio
n o
f a
cce
pte
d
auth
or
reco
mm
end
atio
ns
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1. COSEWIC - Diagnosis
COSEWIC is ‘not broke’
The goal of separating species diagnosis (science/ATK) from prescription (political) seems to be working, at listing stage
- COSEWIC not (too) affected by politics
2. GIC Listing
Tug-of-war drafting history
– Discretion (Original)
– Mandatory (Committee)
– ‘Negative option’ (Final)
GIC must respond in 9 months
– Give reasons if not list
– Silence = listing
2. GIC Listing
Good news … Over 85% of species listed Accountability provisions’ are working – Works much better than pure discretion
Bad news … Delays: Gov often ‘extends’ SARA’s 9 month time limit (18 months – 4+ years) - Ok for aboriginal consultation, but abused …
3 key predictors of non-listing – DFO (cod) – Nunavut (northern beluga whale) – Commercial harvest (plains bison) – But NOT habitat conflicts
Listing Approach % of COSEWIC species Listed
Constrained Discretion (Fed & NF) 87%
Full discretion (most provinces) 35%
3. Recovery Strategies
SARA requires a RS in 1 year after listing for EN, 2 years for TH and EX species
– Then ‘action plan’ at future date (no deadline)
The government is WAY behind in completing RSs. Most species take years to get one.
- Partly due to big initial backlog, and resources
RSs Due (by Law) RSs completed Percent done Done on Time
362 170 (+25 draft) 47% (54%) 26 (7%)
4. Critical Habitat ID
Habitat loss is key threat to over 80% of Species At Risk
Another tug-of-war section
Recovery Strategy must ID CH “to the extent possible” – Best information
– Precautionary principle
Most species are not getting CH ID’d (so no habitat protection) - Very few get full CH ID
- Getting bit better lately
CH ID’d?
Full 25 13%
Partial 69 35%
None 101 52%
5. CH Protection
Another tug-of war section – Revised by PMO at 11th hour
In federal protected areas… - All ID’d CH must be protected
In other ‘federal’ lands and waters … – Must protect CH (if ID’d) for species 180 days after RS,
unless already protected by fed law
Very few species have gotten additional habitat protection under SARA so far (starting to change?)
Species w/ CH ID (final)
CH ID’d in fed protected area
‘Already protected’ (= no SARA prot’n)
SARA habitat prot’n applied
Other (no fed land/ water?)
77 23 7 (?) 1 46
6. Safety Net
Env Committee lost on this one – All its changes taken out by PMO
Minister must recommend safety net if province not providing ‘effective protection’ – Important because >60% of species are ‘prov’ – But GIC has full discretion on applying it – No time limit; No criteria for prov’l “protection”
Never applied – Not even a Ministerial finding – So no pressure on provs to act
(most provs are doing more since SARA)
SARA: Adding it up
Silver linings? – Rate of RS completion &CH ID improving – Gov considering more CH orders (?) – Gov renewed SARA funding last budget
Less than 1% of end. species are getting any additional fed habitat protection under SARA so far. BAD!
Why?
How to improve? 0
100
200
300
400
500
600
COSEWICspecies
SARA listed RecoveryStrategy
Crit Habitatidentified
Crit Habitatprotected
(fed species)
Safety Netapplied
Pe
rce
nta
ge
(o
f C
OS
EW
IC s
pe
cie
s)
SARA and Habitat Protection (to date)