Category Archives: Protection of Species

Endangered species under Alberta’s Wildlife Act: Effective legal protection?

Legislation considered: Wildlife Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. W-10

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On March 23, 2010 Alberta’s Endangered Species Conservation Committee renewed its 2002 recommendation that the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development designate the grizzly bear as a threatened species under the Wildlife Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. W-10. The legal implications of such designation could be few or many under Alberta’s legislative framework for endangered species, and this comment explores this in more detail.

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Is SARA growing teeth?

Cases Considered: Alberta Wilderness Association v Canada (Minister of the Environment), 2009 FC 710

PDF Version: Is SARA growing teeth?

One of the purposes of endangered species legislation is “to provide for the recovery of wildlife species that are extirpated, endangered or threatened as a result of human activity” (Species at Risk Act, S.C. 2002, c. 29 (SARA)). A crucial element of any recovery plan must be the identification of, and then subsequently the protection of, critical habitat for listed species. Without such designation and protection it is easy to predict that a listed species will continue on the downward slide to extinction. Habitat protection may not be a sufficient condition to reverse that slide, but it will likely be a necessary condition.

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The Tromsø Meeting of the Parties to the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears: A Comment on Three Aspects of the Meeting Report

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: The Tromsø Meeting of the Parties to the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears: A Comment on Three Aspects of the Meeting Report

Document Commented On: Meeting of the parties to the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, Tromsø, Norway, 17 – 19 March 2009 Outcome of Meeting

A few weeks ago (March 17 – 19, 2009) the parties to the 1973 Polar Bear Agreement met in Tromsø to consider the further implementation of the Agreement. This is a significant breakthrough. Apart from a meeting of the parties back in 1981 when the Parties decided to continue the Agreement in force as contemplated by Article X(6) of the Agreement and in informal meeting of the range states in 2007, the parties have never considered the further implementation of this Agreement.

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