The Council of Tay Valley…

The Council of Tay Valley Township is writing to express concern that the proposed changes to the
Endangered Species Act will result in significant reduction to biodiversity in Ontario:

i) due to Ministerial direction regarding species protection rather than automatic listing and
protection of species based on scientific analysis; and

ii) due to the establishment of an unnecessary new Crown Agency whose purpose is to
receive fees from developers (that are, in some unspecified manner, intended to protect
species) to permit developers to carry out otherwise prohibited activities. The fees are in
lieu of completing certain on-the-ground activities required by the Act.

Instead, the Township proposes that scientific assessments of endangered species continue
to result in automatic listing of the species within the current timeframes (without the
emphasis on Ministerial involvement proposed and without the extended timeframes
proposed).

Additionally, the Township proposes that the province explore the concept of conservation
land banking, in the instances where habitat and endangered species will be destroyed.
Biodiversity will be maintained or enhanced through permanent conservation of habitat lands
via payments to landowners (through conservation land banking as practiced in the United
States and other countries), rather than payment of a one-time fee into a fund.

Ontario’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) was regarded as the strongest species protection
law in Canada. However, in 2013 a number of exemptions were introduced by the Ministry of
Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) that undermined the law. Subsequently, the 2017
annual report by the Environment Commissioner of Ontario criticized the MNRF’s failure to
properly implement the ESA. The Township is concerned the current proposed changes are
being introduced with inadequate public consultation.

The Township is concerned that the proposed changes to the Act weaken already weak
protection for biodiversity in Ontario. According to a publication by the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, greater biodiversity allows “the services species provide to contribute
to the delicately-running natural cycles that help make earth habitable to humans…, from
providing food and pharmaceuticals to helping reduce the impact of natural disasters such as
floods. Biodiversity is positively correlated with ecosystem productivity.

Thus, if humans want to continue benefiting from the abundance of these natural goods and
services, the biodiversity that establishes them must be preserved”. The United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity, notes that, “at least 40 per cent of the world's economy
and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources”. Protecting
biodiversity is in Tay Valley Township residents’ self-interest for agriculture, tourism, and
mental health.

Biodiversity is under risk. The current species extinction rate is estimated by the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the
natural or 'background' rate. According to the World Wildlife Fund’s 2018 Living Planet
Report, in Canada, mammal populations dropped by 43 per cent, amphibian and reptile
populations dropped by 34 percent, fish populations dropped by 20 percent, and some types
of birds have lost between 43 and 69 percent of their populations.

Only one-quarter of land on Earth is free from impacts of human activities and that number is
projected to decline to just one-tenth by 2050 according to the World Wildlife Fund (based on
the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Index, the Biodiversity Intactness
Index, and the Species Habitat Index).

The very recent release of the IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services emphasizes the urgent need to protect Ontario’s biodiversity. The report
identifies the next 18 months as crucial. The report calls for, among other recommendations,
“shifts in incentives, new environmental laws and stronger enforcement”.

In Ontario the species at risk list has continued to grow, not shrink. Current legislation is not
doing enough to protect species. The Township is concerned that the options put forward by
the proposal would undermine science-based listing of species at risk (including Indigenous
traditional knowledge) and mandatory protection of listed species and their habitats.

There appear to be sufficient tools for protection but they are not being implemented on the
ground. No new Ministerial exemptions or delays in listing species are supported. Improved
implementation of the existing Act is required. The Ministry has never denied an ESA permit.
The Ministry has permitted 2,000 individual exemptions, as well as providing whole industries
with exemptions, e.g., forestry.

The Township believes that applicants who propose harmful activities should not pay a fee
into a fund that may, at some point in the future, provide some undefined ‘benefit’. The
Township also questions the need to set up a new Crown Agency in this era of cost-cutting
by the government.

Instead, the Township recommends that the province explore payments to landowners as a
means of species protection through conservation banking. This would provide rural
landowners with payment for the benefits the natural capital of their land provides.

Conservation banking is a “market program used throughout the United States that increases
the landowner's stewardship and incentive for permanently protecting their land by providing
them a set number of habitat or species credits that the respective owners are able to sell. In
order to satisfy the requirements of species or habitat conservation measures, these
conservation credits can be sold to projects or developments that result in unavoidable and
adverse impacts to species.” (US Fish and Wildlife)

Pricing of conservation credits are variable based on the type of species impacted.
“Additionally, the market forces of supply and demand largely dictate the price of any given
credit, and the value may fluctuate based on many other economic factors such as land
value, competition, and speculation about development in a certain habitat area.” According
to the US Department of the Interior, conservation credits can range in price from a low of
“$1500 per mitigation of a gopher tortoise to as much as $325,000 for vernal pool
preservation”.

Such payments could benefit rural land owners in Tay Valley Township (which is home to
over 40 species at risk) and rural areas throughout the province.