October Photo of the Month: Eastern Kingbirds

This wonderfully dynamic photo of three young Eastern Kingbirds being fed by their mother was sent in by Wendy Leszkowicz. Thanks for sharing it with us, Wendy!

This medium-sized songbird has a large breeding range in Canada and can be found from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. Individuals can be highly territorial during the breeding season, and will attack nest predators or even other kingbirds. Eastern Kingbirds will generally only raise one brood each nesting season, as the parents feed the young for about seven weeks, a relatively long period of dependence.

Do you love this photo? Put it on your desktop!

And why not share your photo with us for the chance to be featured as Nature Canada's photo of the month.

World Vertebrate Populations Declining - How is Canada Doing?

A new study, The Impact of Conservation on the Status of the World's Vertebrates, published in the journal Science, sheds light on the global biodiversity crisis we are facing today.

Carried out by 174 scientists from around the world, and using data for 25,780 species (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes) from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, the study finds that an estimated 20% of the world's vertebrates are Threatened - assigned Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable status according to the IUCN Red List. Of the 20% are 25% of all mammals, 13% of birds, 22% of reptiles, 41% of amphibians, 33% of cartilaginous fishes (e.g., sharks and rays) and 15% of bony fishes (i.e., fish with scales). Their study shows that an average of 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move closer to extinction annually.

The main threats driving these species towards extinction are logging, over-exploitation, agricultural expansion and invasive alien species. Southeast Asia has experienced the most losses and faces high risk of extinction. Other regions seeing large declines in biodiversity include parts of Central America, the tropical Andes of South America and Australia.

On a more positive note, the study shows clear evidence that without conservation efforts biodiversity loss would have increased by 18%. Their analysis showed that 64 mammal, bird and amphibian species had their status improved due to such efforts. Three of these species (the California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, and the Black-footed Ferret, Mustela nigripes, in the United States, and Przewalski’s Horse, Equus ferus, in Mongolia) had been extinct in the wild and later reintroduced.

To ensure that conservation work continues to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss, their study shows that commitment and resources are needed. Referring to the tenth meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD COP10) in Nagoya, Japan, IUCN's Director General Julia Marton-Lefèvre says "this is clear evidence for why we absolutely must emerge from Nagoya with a strategic plan of action to direct our efforts for biodiversity in the coming decade. It is a clarion call for all of us – governments, businesses, citizens – to mobilize resources and drive the action required. Conservation does work but it needs our support, and it needs it fast!”

Canada's latest and most comprehensive report on biodiversity, Canadian Biodiversity: Ecosystem Status and Trends 2010, shows that in this country 20% of amphibians are at risk of extinction, 17% percent of freshwater fish are Endangered or Threatened, 40% of grassland birds have been lost and there has been a 50% decline in the 35 shorebird species found in Canada. Canada's 4th National Report to the CBD (a reporting mechanism under the Convention every four years), which assessed progress towards the 2010 Biodiversity Target, showed that an average of 17% of Canadian species across all taxa are considered 'at risk', 30 species were Extirpated and 12 have gone Extinct.

Join us in urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to take action in conserving Canada's natural heritage during this International Year of Biodiversity! And don't forget that there are changes we can all make in our everyday lives that will benefit biodiversity, too.

Photo 1: African Elephant

Photo 2: Burrowing Owl

Canada Stalls Agreement on Major International Protocol

We’ve blogged about the importance of reaching an agreement on a Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of genetic resources, under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). ABS is one of the three fundamental objectives of the CBD, and centers on access to genetic resources and sharing of benefits arising from their use.

I'll use the same example I used before as to how ABS should work: an indigenous community holds the knowledge, passed through generations, that a certain plant has therapeutic properties (a genetic resource). A pharmaceutical company hears of this plant and would like to use it in the development of a new medicine. Under ABS, the pharmaceutical company will have to acquire (free) Prior Informed Consent from the indigenous people - the 'access' component of ABS - and enter into a contractual agreement with them. Once the resource has been commercialized, the pharmaceutical company will have to share the profits with the indigenous people - the 'benefit sharing' component of ABS. If the pharmaceutical company goes ahead without considering any of the ABS components, it may be labeled as committing an act of 'biopiracy'.

Failing to adopt a legally binding Protocol at the CBD’s tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) will have serious implications on the Convention’s implementation. The head of Brazil’s delegation, Paulino Franco de Carvalho, believes the Protocol ‘would be totally void’ if it did not recognize, and guarantee, the rights of indigenous people and local communities. In fact, he has has made it very clear that Brazil will not sign onto an ABS Protocol that is not fair.

It seems as though Canada is taking the lead in stalling an agreement as they push for the exclusion of indigenous peoples’ rights from the Protocol – an important component, given the valuable traditional knowledge that they hold.

Two pieces of text in the Protocol that Canada would like to exclude are 1) “taking into account the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as regards this Protocol”; and 2) “Affirms nothing in this Protocol shall be constructed as diminishing or extinguishing the rights that indigenous and local communities have now or may have in the future”. In other words, Canada does not want to make mention of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or sign onto a Protocol that doesn't allow it to deviate from respecting their rights.

Apart from excluding indigenous peoples’ rights, the Canadian government took its position without consulting with any indigenous communities. Apparently, Canada does not pay for any indigenous representatives to attend these conferences, even though they’re granted ‘observer’ status!

BirdLife International believes that progress towards overcoming the biodiversity crisis faced by the world today, and implementing the CBD, largely depends on the adoption of a legally binding Protocol on ABS at COP10.

It is expected that over 120 environment ministers will be attending the final days of COP10 by the end of the week to sign the Protocol.

Last Chance to Add Your Name to the International Youth Accord on Biodiversity

Tomorrow is the last day to sign onto the International Youth Accord on Biodiversity that will be presented in Nagoya, Japan, at the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) COP10.

The Accord is being combined with other youth statements from around the world to create an International Youth Biodiversity Declaration. Youth will present this document during the high level segment of COP10, where heads of states/governments, relevant stakeholders and international organizations will come together to resolve difficult issues. According to our sources, this type of meeting rarely happens.

These young advocates are keen on making a difference - a difference that sees conserving biodiversity on the priority list of every government!

Add your voice to this Accord, and help our youth get the message through.

Native Prairie Threatened by Potato Production

White potatoes
by Julep67 via flickr

The Alberta Cabinet is considering a proposal to sell 13,600 acres of public native prairie rangeland in the Bow Island Provincial Grazing Reserve (BIPGR) to SLM Spud Farms for conversion into irrigated cropland for potato production.

This plan is absolutely shocking.

The central grasslands of North America are considered one of North America’s most endangered ecosystems. In this International Year of Biodiversity and as governments from around the world are gathered in Nagoya, Japan to work towards addressing alarming biodiversity loss, entertaining a proposal to convert endangered native prairie lands to potato production should be out of the question.

We wrote last week to Alberta's Premier to urge him to reject this proposal and prevent the significant impacts this conversion would have on Canada’s biodiversity. Read our letter.

Birds Can Measure Progress Towards 2020 Biodiversity Target

Dunlin

 BirdLife International has released a new report, Meeting the 2020 biodiversity targets: action and monitoring based on birds. The report demonstrates how birds, and the Important Bird Areas (IBA) that support them, can be used as indicators to monitor progress towards reducing the current rate of biodiversity loss, and ultimately achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) new 2020 Biodiversity Target.

IBAs are not only key sites for birds, but also many animals and plants, making them significant sites for biodiversity conservation. The 30 IBAs in Uganda provide a good example: they cover only 8% of the country yet hold 74% of Uganda's 1, 247 recorded butterfly species, of which 82% are endemic.

“Having failed to hit the 2010 targets, we cannot afford to fail again. Governments, civil society and businesses must all pull together to tackle the pressing issue of biodiversity loss – and birds signpost some very practical ways to make progress,” says Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife’s Director of Science, Policy and Information.

Dr. Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global Research and Indicators Coordinator adds, “Birds are very useful for identifying the specific actions required to meet these new targets, and for tracking the implementation and impact of such actions. Being widespread, well studied, and highly responsive to environmental change, birds are very valuable indicators.”

Given the importance of IBAs for biodiversity conservation, an IBA Protection Index - one example of how IBAs can be used to track progress - measures what percentage of these priority sites fall within protected areas networks. IBAs in protected areas are shown to be in better condition than those that exist outside of sites formally protected by governments. Measuring the level of protection of IBAs enables Parties to the CBD to track their progress towards biodiversity conservation - a commitment they’ve made under the Convention. IBA indices show that, on average, 39% of each IBA's area is protected, while 26% of IBAs are completely protected.

Additionally, the report demonstrates how birds provide strong evidence on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Information obtained from birds can be useful for climate change adaptation efforts.

Thousands of IBAs, One Map

Today, at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) in Nagoya, Japan, BirdLife International presented a map showing over 10,000 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and their protection status around the world.

IBAs are discrete sites that support specific groups of birds: threatened birds, large groups of birds, and birds restricted by range or by habitat. IBAs range in size from very tiny patches of habitat to large tracts of land or water. They may encompass private or public land, and they may or may not overlap partially or entirely with legally protected sites. This ultimately makes IBAs an important tool for identifying conservation priorities, and fostering greater success in the conservation of bird populations.

The new map will serve as an important tool in assisting the CBD implement its Programme of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA). Besides a holistic view of the protection status of global IBAs, Parties to the Convention will be able to identify what percentages of their IBAs are protected, and further guide them in the expansion of their protected areas networks. According to the protection status of IBAs, only 26% of IBAs worldwide are legally protected under national jurisdictions. In Canada, only 36% of IBAs are found in protected areas.

Nature Canada is the Canadian co-partner, with Bird Studies Canada, in BirdLife International. Together we deliver the international IBA program in Canada, which aims to identify, conserve and monitor a network of sites that provides essential habitat for bird populations.

How Much is a Duck Worth?

According to a provincial court in Alberta, about $1,868.

Syncrude Canada has been sentenced to pay an award of approximately $3 million CAD for the death of over 1,600 ducks that dove into its 12 square kilometre tailings pond north of Fort McMurray in Alberta. Syncrude had been found guilty in June 2010 of violating both the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act and Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.

How does it add up to $3 million?

- $300,000; the maximum fine under the Migratory Birds Convention Act, which will be paid to the federal Environmental Damages Fund (EDF)

- $500,000; the maximum fine under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. Half of this money will be used for the establishment of a program to monitor and protect birds, and to be integrated with aboriginal training at Keyano College in Fort McMurray, Alberta

- $1.3 million; to be given to the University of Alberta's Avian Protection Research Study

- $900,000; for the purchase of lands in the Golden Ranches Conservation Area near Edmonton

$3 million does not come close to the true value of the wildlife that was lost. Help us make sure tragedies like this one don't happen again. Sign Nature Canada's petition to stop the tar sands!

State of Canada's Biodiversity Highlighted in New Government Report

The federal government has released a new report on biodiversity, Canadian Biodiversity: Ecosystem Status and Trends 2010, in advance of the COP10 meeting that started this week. The report, which is a joint federal/ provincial/ territorial initiative to assess Canada's ecosystems, focuses on trends in ecosystem condition, drivers and stressors. It is billed as the first assessment of Canada's biodiversity from an ecosystem perspective.

This report is a first step in Canada's Biodiversity Outcomes Framework, outlining the health of Canada's ecosystems and enabling the government to better define the national biodiversity agenda and set priorities. It also provides a good measure of Canada's progress towards achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) 2010 Biodiversity Target.

Some excerpts from the report's Executive Summary:

Some findings reveal that much of Canada’s natural endowment remains healthy, including large tracts of undisturbed wilderness, internationally significant wetlands, and thriving estuaries, particularly in sparsely populated or less accessible areas. Forest area is fairly stable. Over half of Canada’s landscape remains intact and relatively free from human infrastructure. Although much is in the more remote North, this also includes large tracts of boreal forest and coastal temperate rainforest.Canada maintains commercial and recreational freshwater and marine fisheries of significant economic and cultural importance.

Some key findings identify ecosystems in which natural processes are compromised or increased stresses are reaching critical thresholds. Examples include: fish populations that have not recovered despite the removal of fishing pressure; declines in the area and condition of grasslands, where grassland bird populations are dropping sharply; and, fragmented forests that place forest-dwelling caribou at risk.

We're glad to see a comprehensive report that addresses the state of Canada's biodiversity, but we're puzzled as to why Environment Canada released such an important document in silence - there isn't yet a news release about it on the department's website to publicly announce the availability of the report and most of the media attention has been as a result of opposition critics questioning the government's commitment to the UN summit in Nagoya, Japan.

As the International Year of Biodiversity draws to a close, we continue to ask the government to safeguard the vast array of biodiversity in Canada, for the world and for future generations.

Export Development Canada Gives Mining Giant $1 Billion Loan

Export Development Canada (EDC) announced earlier this month that it is giving Brazilian mining company Vale a $1 billion USD loan “to assist with capital expenditures related to Canadian export projects and future Canadian procurement in its international operations.”

Vale is the world’s largest iron ore producer, the 2nd largest mining company, and the 75th largest corporation, making $13.2 billion in profits in 2008!

Vale is also the mining company pushing for the transformation of Sandy Pond, a pristine lake in St. John's, Newfoundland, into a ‘tailings impoundment area’ under Schedule 2 of the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations (MMER) of the Fisheries Act.

It comes as a surprise that a money-making machine like Vale needs money from EDC, especially since half of the company's operations are outside of Canada and its ability to raise this money through other means is not in doubt.

For more details read Ken Kavanagh's Letter to the Editor in the Toronto Star. Ken is a member of the Sandy Pond Alliance, a group that was created to stop the transformation of Sandy Pond into a tailings impoundment area.

Finding Nature in Lobbying Statistics

The Minister of the Environment is one of Canada's top 5 most lobbied cabinet ministers, according to an analysis published this week by the Hill Times. And among environmental organizations, Minister Jim Prentice met most often with... Nature Canada. We firmly believe that one of the most effective ways to advance the protection of nature is to engage constructively with those who make decisions affecting the environment.

But we have our work cut out for us. Major industrial corporations account for 77% of the reported meetings with Mr. Prentice. With so many other players making their presence felt on the Hill, it is crucial that we be there on behalf of our members and supporters making the case for conservation. Nature must have her lobbyists too! It is an honour for us to serve in that role, and we seem to be making some progress. Just yesterday a member of parliament described our strategy regarding a current parliamentary issue as "wise".

A key to our approach is that our "inside game" on the Hill is closely linked with our "outside game" of media relations and carefully timed action alerts. Your letters and petition signatures play a crucial role in this integrated approach - and they are a key ingredient that many other lobbying forces on the Hill don't have. So please keep signing and sending - together we are a persistent voice for nature, in Ottawa and across the country!

CBD COP10; The Action Begins

We've mentioned the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) in various blog posts, and we also mentioned the importance of COP10 in addressing the global biodiversity crisis the world is facing today. COP10 began today in Nagoya, Japan, and the time has come for some important (and delicate) issues to be agreed upon. Three of the main issues are:

- A Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing;
- A Strategic Plan for the post-2010 period; and
- A new Strategy for Resource Mobilization.

Call on Canada's Government to protect biodiversity by signing our open letter to Prime Minister Harper to take 5 steps on behalf of biodiversity.

Read more of our CBD and International Year of Biodiversity related blog posts.

Water - We Can't Live Without It!

Without clean, abundant freshwater, life on Earth would not exist. The majority of the world's population depends on freshwater environments to provide water for drinking, irrigation, food, employment and recreation.

Luckily, Canada is blessed with plenty of water:

• Almost 9% (891 163 square kilometers) of Canada's total area is covered by fresh water.
• Wetlands cover an additional 14% (more than 1.2 million square kilometers) of the land area of Canada.
• Annually, Canada's rivers discharge 7% of the world's renewable water supply – 105 000 cubic meters per second.

Balanced, healthy ecosystems, including freshwater rivers and lakes, perform many amazing services that cannot be replicated – and that we depend on for survival. In Canada, these ecosystems:

• purify the air and water
• maintain biodiversity
• control agricultural pests
• preserve soils and renew their fertility
• pollinate crops and natural vegetation
• and much more...

These services are so fundamental to life that they are easy to take for granted, but we must remember that they are far beyond the ability of human technology to replace.

The way we treat our water resources can have an effect on healthy ecosystems. Runoff of pesticides, fertilizers and waste, introduction of non-native species and destruction of wetlands all reduce the ability of water ecosystems to perform their functions and provide these services.

We can all protect our freshwater resources through conservation action at home. Do your part to reduce global demand on our precious water resources - take the Water Conservation Pledge today! Join people across the country and around the world as we save more than 1 million gallons of water each year.

This post is a part of Blog Action Day, an annual event that sees blogs from around the world post about the same issue on the same day to spark global discussion and drive collective action.

Celebrating All Buffleheads Day

A pair of Buffleheads
Photo by Nick (kukkurovaca)/Flickr

A major event in the history of Buffleheads is the Great Bufflehead Crash that occurred in November 1940 near Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. The crash may have been caused by a heavy fog on the night of November 4th, with the addition of Foam Lake’s street lights that confused Buffleheads into thinking it was a lake. These are diving ducks, so one can only imagine the outcome of such a mirage – they could dive straight into the ground! Some say the crash could have been due to freezing rain that forced the ducks to ‘fall from the sky’.

At Nature Canada’s 2010 Annual General Meeting, a resolution – All Buffleheads Day, October 15th, 2010 – was adopted to recognize that 2010 is the 70th anniversary of the Great Bufflehead Crash of 1940; to encourage the government to implement and support the monitoring of key phenological indicators through citizen-based monitoring programs; and to commend the District of North Saanich and the Town of Sidney in their efforts to protect essential Bufflehead habitat in Shoal Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

Read a short profile on the Bufflehead

Mackenzie Gas Panel Rejects Governments' Attempt to Weaken Its Recommendations

It is no secret that the Governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories are strong supporters of the Mackenzie Gas Project. But it's shocking that they seem set on pushing it through with little or no regard for whether it will promote sustainable development for the North or harm this invaluable ecosystem. Fortunately, the Joint Review Panel (JRP) that was tasked with reviewing the environmental and socio-economic implications of the project is refusing to endorse this irresponsible approach.

In December 2009, after 2 years of public hearings and another 2 years of deliberations, the JRP released its report on the Mackenzie Gas Project: "Foundation for a Sustainable Northern Future". The Panel concluded that the project could make a positive contribution to sustainability and that it could be carried out without significant adverse impacts, subject to the full implementation of its 176 recommendations. As we noted then, these recommendations are no joke. They're the product of a very serious, comprehensive and committed effort to map the conditions under which this massive undertaking could open up the pristine Mackenzie basin without leading to its destruction.

It is very disturbing that the Governments of Canada and the NWT have tried to have the JRP accept the Governments' commitment to implementing only about 10% of the recommended actions. The Governments -in an interim response that remains know to the public only through the JRP's response to it- are proposing to accept only 10 of the 115 recommendations directed to them, reject 28 and claim to "accept the intent" of 77.

The recommendations that the Governments would like to reject or "accept in intent" include those directed to limiting green house gas emissions, ensuring sustainable end use of the extracted gas, completing and implementing First Nations land use plans, and protecting wildlife like caribou and polar bears. They also include recommendations intended to protect the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary from the impact of the anchor fields and other development that the project proposes to carry out inside this protected area.

It is encouraging that the JRP has both refused to engage in a confidential exchange with the Governments and that they have stood firm by their conclusion that "in the absence of implementation of its Recommendations, and in particular those Recommendations directed to Governments, the adverse impacts of the Project could be significant and its contributions to sustainability could be negative." Bravo to the JRP for standing up for transparency and sustainability!

This is not the end of the story, however, so stay tuned for further developments...

Can new iphone app increase our connection to the natural world?

A new mobile app for sharing nature photos is turning random plant and animal sightings into a fast-growing citizen science project. Networked Organisms and Habitats and their nature-focused application, Project Noah, is used to explore and document local wildlife, in backyards, city parks and other places, and it has already attracted both the casual naturalist and the professional ecologist.

I know how it sounds. Electronic media consumption is supposed to spread nature deficit disorder among our young, not increase our appreciation for nature and wild things, right? But with technology like this, it’s often how it’s applied that really matters. And Project Noah could have the capacity to bridge the gap between professional researchers and amateur wildlife enthusiasts.

So exactly how does Project Noah work? It’s simple. You just get outside, take pictures of wildlife, tag it with your own words, and then submit it directly to the Project Noah database. Once uploaded to the site, the data becomes a valuable tool for scientists to track migrating species, or document wildlife declines.

Most programs that utilize citizen science generally only work when those citizen scientists are borderline expert in the subject. There is always the issue of quality versus quantity; experts provide quality but amateurs bring quantity. Project Noah is trying to make the application very simple without taking away from the accuracy or quality of the data.

"You can readily make the required professional rigor so large that it's a buzz kill for the amateur or make it so loosey-goosey in order to maximize participation that the resulting data isn't regarded as proof or evidence of anything," said Project NOAH adviser Clay Shirky, an author who teaches at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program.

So far the app is hosting a mushroom-mapping project in New York City, the Lost Ladybug mission at Cornell University and the Project Squirrel a joint partnership between the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Sciences' Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

Urban ecologist Steve Sullivan, who runs Project Squirrel indicated that “Project Noah supplies precise locality data that otherwise would be impossible to obtain. I now get about 70 squirrel observations a week from Project Noah, with a 90 percent accuracy rate for identifications.”

To date Project Noah’s repository of field sightings includes upwards of 5,000 wildlife sightings of flora and fauna from around the world and is growing day by day.

Raising A Green Fledgling - Part 6 - Staying Green While Not Turning Blue...

Hello Readers!

This part of the series focuses on a very timely question - how do you stay warm when the weather starts getting colder?

Fall has descended upon Ottawa in the last couple of weeks, prompting my wife and I to dig out sweaters from the depths of our closet and to evict the patio furniture from the backyard. These and other aspects of 'hunkering down' for the winter made me think about how we and our green fledgling will stay warm during the next 6-8 months.

So how do I heat my home? Well, we have an oil furnace. Yup, oil. We live in a city where natural gas is widely available to homeowners but our home happened to be newly re-equipped for oil heat when we purchased it. Our furnace is less than 12 months old and has a high efficiency rating. We've also sought out and sealed drafts around our 50+ year old house and installed a programmable thermostat to reduce our overall energy consumption/costs for heating & cooling.

This series is all about how well my environmental values withstand the many demands - and conveniences - of modern-day parenthood. While home-heating is not a parenting issue, per se, how it is done absolutely influences one's environmental footprint. In fact, space heating in the home can contribute to 60% of residential energy consumption according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). After a series of posts on the things I think my wife and I are doing "well" to reduce our family's environmental footprint and connect our daughter to nature, I thought it timely to talk about something we can and should do better over time.

The Gulf of Mexico oil disaster is a poignant reminder of the risks associated with oil & gas extraction, hopefully catching the attention of anyone who heats with oil or gas, drives a vehicle, or purchases petrochemical products. Concurrent events like the Red Sea oil spill (June), China's Yellow Sea oil spill (July), the Enbridge pipeline rupture in Michigan state (July), Chevron's bid to explore offshore oil & gas in the arctic Beaufort Sea (Aug) and news of Tar Sands extraction impacts on the Athabasca River (Sept) remind us again and again of these risks.

The fuel and electricity that provides heat and hot water in my home (and possibly yours) come from somewhere, and I want to better understand their origins. That way I can make more responsible choices about how to reduce my family's environmental footprint by choosing greener, cleaner energy. Everyone should consider try this, particularly since we're using even more energy (derived from fuel combustion and other sources) in our homes over time... NRCan lists the following changes in energy consumption between 1990 and 2007 across the residential sector*:

Residential

• Water heating = 6.2% increase
• Space heating = 14.3% increase
• Lighting = 17.8% increase
• Other appliances (e.g., TVs, DVD players, personal computers) = 123.8% increase
• Space cooling = 166.5% increase

These increases can be attributed to numerous factors and don't directly reflect changes in fuel and electricity consumption. However, consumption is trending in an opposite direction than one would hope given the risks associated with how and where we get the raw energy sources from in the first place...

So here's the take-home message for this RAGF installment: How will you keep your family warm this winter? Do you know the origin of the fuel and/or electricity used to heat your home? Do you know the full environmental impacts associated with your home heating method? And if so, have you thought about how to reduce the negative impacts? Is your family interested in green energy alternatives?

For the record, there are a lot of 'greener' home heating alternatives available, including things like heat pumps, concentrated solar thermal power, geothermal energy, and energy sourcing alternatives like Bullfrog power. I won't expand on this topic for now since this discussion could be a post unto itself.

Stay tuned for the next post in the RAGF series. Check back every 2-3 weeks for new installments. And thanks for reading!


*Keep in mind that this is just a SAMPLE of all the sector-specific energy consumption stats available from NRCan - I encourage you to also check out the changes in energy consumption patterns that have occurred across the board.

Photo: A. MacDonald

BirdLife International’s Position on the International Regime for Access and Benefit Sharing

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP10) in Nagoya, Japan this October will set the stage for the agreement on a crucial component of the CBD: Access & Benefit Sharing, or ABS. ABS is one of the three fundamental objectives of the CBD, and centers on access to genetic resources and sharing of benefits arising from their use.

For example, an indigenous community holds the knowledge, passed through generations, that a certain plant has therapeutic properties (a genetic resource). A pharmaceutical company hears of this plant and would like to use it in the development of a new medicine. Under ABS, the pharmaceutical company will have to acquire (free) Prior Informed Consent from the indigenous people - the 'access' component of ABS - and enter into a contractual agreement with them. Once the resource has been commercialized, the pharmaceutical company will have to share the profits with the indigenous people - the 'benefit sharing' component of ABS. If the pharmaceutical company goes ahead without considering any of the ABS components, it may be labeled as committing an act of 'biopiracy'.

BirdLife International believes that progress towards overcoming the biodiversity crisis faced by the world today, and implementing the CBD, largely depends on the adoption of a legally binding Protocol on ABS at COP10.

However, draft text for the Protocol has yet to be finalized, although there are hopes that the Interregional Negotiating Group (ING) of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing (WG-ABS) will conclude this week's last-minute meeting with a draft, agreed upon by all Parties, to be presented for finalization and approval at COP10.

According to Dr. Muhtari Aminu-Kano, BirdLife’s Senior Adviser on Policy and Advocacy

Several key Governments see progress in developing a new agreement on ABS as absolutely necessary, and are willing to block progress in all other areas of the CBD until such an agreement is reached. We are asking politicians to get their acts together and stop unnecessarily blocking the negotiations.

In addition to the adoption of an ABS Protocol at COP10, BirdLife International believes that Parties must:

• Adopt a comprehensive, ambitious and achievable Strategic Plan with associated 2020 Targets. This should include a framework to involve local communities and civil society in achieving its aims, and should recognise the importance of linking biodiversity conservation to improved livelihoods and poverty reduction.
• Agree on mechanisms to ensure each country has the resources it needs for effective implementation of the CBD. This must involve an increase in biodiversity budgets in all countries, and new and increased money from developed countries to developing countries. We want governments to recognise that at least a tenfold increase in funding is needed by 2020.
• Agree to expand protected area networks, particularly in marine areas, to cover all areas of particular importance for biodiversity. Standard criteria should be developed for the identification of sites of global biodiversity significance.
• Agree on clear actions to promote synergies between the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at national and international levels. Biodiversity and ecosystems underpin effective climate change mitigation and adaptation and are in turn impacted by climate change. This must be recognised within all decisions and actions taken to address climate change.

It's the International Year of Biodiversity so call on Canada's Government to protect biodiversity by signing our open letter to Prime Minister Harper to take 5 steps on behalf of biodiversity.

Read about how Important Bird Areas (IBAs) help the CBD achieve its targets and why the CBD's implementation may be at risk.

New fact unveiled about Monarch

Photo by Nancy Balharrie

Can a sick Monarch medicate itself or its young one to ward off infection? That was the questions Jaap de Roode, Assistant Professor at Emory University, was trying to answer. With the aid of a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Jaap de Roode delved his researched into the wild to explore the relationship between the protozoan parasite, and the monarch.

The protozoan parasite (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) invades the caterpillar gut and persists right into the monarch’ adulthood, the now adult monarch subsequently passes the infection onto its young ones (larvae). It is a known fact that caterpillars ingest toxins to which they are immune but that in turn make them toxic to others warding off predators. Jaap de Roode and his team have now established that the monarch not only uses cardenolides, chemical found in milkweed, to ward off predators, but to fight the infection too.

Jaap de Roode was quoted in Discovery News saying,

“We have shown that some species of milkweed, the larva’s food plants, can reduce parasite infection in the monarchs. And we have also found that infected female butterflies prefer to lay their eggs on plants that will make their offspring less sick, suggesting that monarchs have evolved the ability to medicate their offspring. We believe that our experiments provide the best evidence to date that animals use medication."

Jaap de Roode, discusses his latest findings in this video.

The monarch's sel-medicating behaviour is trans-generational, meaning that while the mother is expressing the behaviour, only her offspring benefits.

Caterpillars have no preference over a less or more toxic type of milkweed, only the adult monarch, more specifically only the infected adult monarch.

New discoveries such as this one help pave the way for potentially beneficial breakthroughs for human and non-human species. And it's a timely reminder that we can learn so much from species, common and rare, which makes conserving such biodiversity so important.