Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act. I am deeply saddened and strongly opposed to the proposed changes to the Act. Contrary to improving the outcomes for species at risk, the proposed changes would facilitate the destruction of habitats that are essential to our most vulnerable plants and animals, by making it easier for industry and developers to avoid the obligations they face under the current legislation.

At a time when the United Nations has issued a report about the crisis facing our environment in terms of species extinction and climate change, I am gobsmacked by the proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act. I am also deeply concerned that the 20 pages of amendments form a Schedule to a piece of legislation entitled "More Homes, More Choice" - certainly these proposals, if enacted, would provide less homes and less choice for vulnerable species.

More specifically, I do not support the proposed changes that would allow for broad ministerial discretion to interfere with the science-based listing process, to suspend and limit protections, and to ignore legislated timelines for policies and reporting.

I am also deeply concerned about the “pay-to-slay” option that would facilitate habitat destruction and the risk to vulnerable species by allowing developers and others to pay into a fund instead of fulfilling requirements for on-the-ground reparation for the damage they do to species and their habitats.

Improving outcomes for species at risk - which also affects us as people who rely on the natural environment for our well-being - requires enforcement, and investment in stewardship. Weakening the existing law and writing off species at risk and their habitats as red tape, is simply unacceptable.

I ask that Schedule 5, which contains the proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act, be removed from Bill 208 pending further consultation and public access to the science-based evidence on which this proposal should be based.