I am very concerned about…

I am very concerned about the plan to remove portions of the Greenbelt from the Greenbelt Plan in the GTA, and to replace them with additions of areas in the vicinity of Erin without apparent consideration of conservation science.

The proposed amendments to the Greenbelt Plan do not respond to the objectives of the Plan to protect natural heritage within an effective system, with sufficiently wide linkages that allow movement of wildlife and plants between wetlands, woodlands and other natural features. The lands shown for removal on Schedules 1 to 11 will have the effect of narrowing the corridors that provide linkages between features. The Greenbelt linkages were carefully planned so that small, slow-moving and vulnerable wildlife species would still be able to disperse normally to habitats which they need to complete their life cycles, and would be able to repopulate habitats. The linkages that will remain after the removal of these areas, and their replacement with urban development and all its trappings, will be too narrow. This will curtail the movement of species between features.

The Greenbelt lands were carefully planned to ensure that features did not become isolated by urban development, with a resulting decline in biodiversity. The isolation effect has been called the creation of "islands of green" with good reason - isolated features lose species. The Greenbelt needs certainty of permanence to be effective, and this shakes that permanence.