| | The initial steps in developing a province-wide biodiversity strategy are underway. These steps are laying the foundation for a made-in-Alberta approach to sustaining our biodiversity.
The Interdepartmental Biodiversity Working Group is guiding these steps. This group, created in 2004, is composed of members from eight Alberta Government departments with land-related responsibilities and influences.
The group has several key tasks. One is to raise awareness and develop some shared perspectives on biodiversity across the Alberta Government. “We want to reach a point where biodiversity and notions around management and conservation of biodiversity become second nature for folks as they carry out their work,” explains Ted Nason of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, who chairs the group.
Another key task for the group is to plan the process for developing a provincial biodiversity strategy. The need for such a strategy has arisen in part due to Alberta’s rapid economic development and growing population, which are putting increasingly intense pressures on our natural resources including biodiversity. Nason says, “We’re realizing that we have to get better and more deliberate with the way we manage our living resources.” As well, a biodiversity strategy would be a valuable tool to help guide the Alberta Government in meeting its legislated responsibilities and policy commitments for managing biodiversity.
Public consultations with Albertans will be a major element in creating the strategy. “It really comes down to Albertans being able to develop their own vision of what sound biodiversity management means to them,” says Nason.
Lori Enns, who represents Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development on the group, outlines the group’s preliminary plans for consultations with the public and other stakeholders. She says, “The intent is to integrate some of the public consultations for development of the biodiversity strategy with consultations undertaken as part of the Alberta Land Use Framework. Because biodiversity is so strongly linked to land use and landscape management, it really is a nice fit.” The Land Use Framework consultations are expected to take place over the next two years. (For more information on the framework, see the Fall 2005 issue of Green Matters.)
To help stimulate and inform the dialogue on biodiversity with Albertans, the group recently published the Biodiversity Basics factsheet series. The first factsheet, Characteristics and Values, outlines what biodiversity is and why it is important, with Alberta examples. The second one, Challenges and Issues, discusses such issues as the impacts of Alberta’s rapid growth and development on biodiversity, and the challenges in addressing these issues. Actions and Opportunities, the third factsheet, describes examples of actions that individuals, landowners, community groups, businesses and other organizations are already taking to help maintain Alberta’s biodiversity.
For copies of the Biodiversity Basics factsheets, contact Ted Nason (phone: 780-644-5742; email: ted.nason@gov.ab.ca). A companion publication to these factsheets is Biodiversity Perspectives, which can be downloaded from www.keewatin.ca.
New biodiversity tool for producers coming soon
The biodiversity self-assessment tool will be easy and enjoyable plus raise awareness of biodiversity and how you can enhance it,” says Murray Klutz of Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC). “It literally takes an hour and a half to walk about the farm with your family and evaluate the biodiversity strengths and challenges on your operation.”
Klutz is a member of a six-person team from Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and DUC working on this guide. He notes, “There are certainly professionals who can help you assess and enhance wildlife habitat and biodiversity on your land, but we think there’s value in a precursor step of a self-assessment. You can begin to learn about some of the biological and ecosystem interaction concepts, identify things you’re already doing that are very good – because often people, without consciously thinking about it, are providing for a diversity of species on their operation – and look for opportunities to improve biodiversity.”
The tool will complement the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) program. That program provides a voluntary, confidential self-assessment process for producers to evaluate the environmental risks and strengths in their operations. In the latest edition of the EFP workbook, a question has been added to one of the final chapters that specifically asks participants about biodiversity assessment, planning and implementation on their operation.
Klutz explains, “We see this [question] working as a direct call to action as you’re nearing completion of the workbook. And it will be an easy call to action because you’re going to receive the biodiversity self-assessment tool during the EFP process.”
The team hopes to have the guide finalized for this fall. |
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