The act states that the…

The act states that the initial focus of conservation authorities was to prevent flooding, erosion, drought, and deforestation through improved land, water and forestry management practices. As extreme weather, particularly heavy rains and flooding becomes more frequent due to climate change, the core frontline role that conservation authorities play in our communities is becoming increasingly important. The act states that Conservation Authorites must re-focus to the core mandate. If conservation authorizes were developed with the idea of improved land, water and forestry management practices than these should be part of the re-focused core mandate. There is no discussion on forestry management in this new act. In addition climate change is something that threatens ecosystems and the impacts are not only those to humans via flooding. Conservation Authorities are uniquely situated to add value to provincial scale monitoring of the impacts of climate change on ecosystems. These ecosystems are where we all live. Impacts to them impact humans as well as animals and plants. Monitoring of ecosystem health including forests and wetlands, which many conservation authorites undertake are important programs that detail our impacts of climate change. They are also the ways in which tree disease and invasive species are discovered in Ontario and the potential Economic impact they can have. Without a focus in ecosystem health via conservation authorities this information will be lost.