PLEASE SEND a MESSAGE BELOW to the federal, provincial, and territorial governments of Canada to take a pivotal step to avert both the extinction and climate crises by committing to protect and restore 50% of Canada in all types of land and marine ecosystems by 2030. Currently 12% of Canada’s land area is protected, and 14% of Canada’s marine waters have some degree of protection.
Send-a-Message BELOW!
Protecting and restoring 50% of the original extent of Earth’s native ecosystems by 2030 would be a game-changer to significantly avert both the extinction and climate crises, according to scientists.
Earth is in a mass extinction crisis. One million species are projected by scientists to go extinct due to human activities over the ensuing decades.
Earth is also in a climate crisis. The current trajectory towards catastrophic global warming threatens human civilization and life on the planet as we know it.
Protecting and/or restoring 50% of the original geographic extent of all of Earth’s native ecosystems by 2030 would be a game-changer to significantly avert both the extinction and climate crises, according to scientists. It would draw-down massive amounts of atmospheric carbon, enabling simultaneous emissions reductions efforts to keep global temperatures from rising above the global target of 1.5 degree Celsius. Indeed, governments have left major emissions reductions so late, it is not possible to reach our targets without massive protection of native ecoystems now.
Protecting native ecosystems also benefits humanity by enhancing our mental and physical health; supporting businesses and jobs in tourism, recreation, fishing (providing clean water and habitat), real estate (increasing property values in nearby communities) and high tech (attracting skilled workers who locate to areas with a higher environmental quality of life); supporting First Nations cultures which evolved in native ecosystems over millenia; and providing ecosystem services like clean water, regional and global climate regulation, food, and medicines.
Indeed, native ecosystems are the foundation of life on Earth.
Canada has a long way to go to meet our national commitment to protect 25% of our land base by the end of 2025 (currently we are at about 12%) and to meet our international target of 30% by 2030 (to be officialized at the UN Biodiversity Conference in May of 2022).
The UN Biodiversity Conference in April and May of 2022 is the central opportunity for Canada to push for an international commitment for far more ambitious, ecosystems-based protection targets - here and around the world.
Please Send a Message to Canada’s key political decision-makers in the federal, provincial, and territorial governments here:
YOUR MESSAGE WILL BE SENT TO: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, your Premiere, Provincial Environmental Minister, and your own Member of Parliament and Member of Legislative Assembly/Member of Provincial Parliament.
ALSO Please Help us Circulate our Sign-on Resolution!
We have a sign-on resolution for businesses, unions, faith groups, recreation groups, environmental and non-profit organizations, and individuals to sign on, which you can download HERE.
This resolution is key to publicly let governments know that diverse and powerful interests across the country are demanding the protection of native ecosystems for a better country and world.
(Please circulate the resolution and then return the signed resolutions to us at: Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, PO Box 21573, Vancouver, BC V5L 5G2 or EMAIL us the signed and scanned version at: info@EndangeredEcosystemsAlliance.org)
MORE INFO
Please read more about the science of protecting 50%:
Here in Science Advances magazine: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaaw2869
And in National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/science-study-outlines-30-percent-conservation-2030/
And also here: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-life-earth-billion-a-year-solution.html