It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, December 12, 2022
Challenging the Prevailing View – 45,000-Year-Old Ancient DNA Reveals Hidden Human History
ByTHE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDEDECEMBER 8, 2022
The new findings challenge the prevailing view of human adaption.
The researchers used ancient genomes to reveal new information about the human history of adaption.
Ancient DNA, including samples from human remains that are around 45,000 years old, has helped researchers understand a previously unknown aspect of humanity’s evolution.
The new research, which was co-led by Dr. Yassine Souilmi, Group Leader at the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide, was recently published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
“It was widely believed the genetics of our human ancestors didn’t change due to environmental pressures as much as other animals, due to our enhanced communication skills and ability to make and use tools,” Dr. Souilmi said.
“However, by comparing modern genomes with ancient DNA, we discovered more than 50 cases of an initially rare beneficial genetic variant becoming prevalent across all members of ancient human groups. In contrast to many other species, evidence for this type of adaptive genetic change has been inconsistent in humans. This discovery consequently challenges the prevailing view of human adaptation, and gives us a new and exciting insight into how humans have adapted to the novel environmental pressures they encountered as we spread across the planet.”
Examining ancient DNA has been crucial in revealing the secrets of human evolution, according to co-lead author Dr. Ray Tobler, an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Adelaide and a DECRA fellow at the Australian National University
“We believed historical mixing events between human groups might have hidden signs of genetic changes in modern human genomes,” Dr. Tobler said.
“We examined DNA from more than 1,000 ancient genomes, the oldest which was around 45,000 years old, to see if certain types of genetic adaptation had been more common in our history than studies of modern genomes had suggested.”
Professor Christian Huber, a senior author of the research paper, is an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Adelaide and an Assistant Professor at Penn State University.
“The use of ancient genomes was crucial because they preceded major historical mixing events that have radically reshaped modern European genetic ancestry,” Professor Huber said.
“This allowed the recovery of historical signs of adaptation that are invisible to standard analysis of modern genomes.”
Reference: “Admixture has obscured signals of historical hard sweeps in humans” by Yassine Souilmi, Raymond Tobler, Angad Johar, Matthew Williams, Shane T. Grey, Joshua Schmidt, João C. Teixeira, Adam Rohrlach, Jonathan Tuke, Olivia Johnson, Graham Gower, Chris Turney, Murray Cox, Alan Cooper, and Christian D. Huber, 31 October 2022, Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01914-9
Researchers based at the Mayo Clinic, the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, the University of New South Wales, and Massey University in New Zealand also contributed to the research paper.
Established in 2005, the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA is a world leader in the research and development of advanced ancient DNA approaches for evolutionary, environmental, and conservation applications.
UK
Why is the new Cumbrian coal mine so controversial?
PA Reporter Thu, December 8, 2022
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has granted planning permission for what would be the first new coal mine in 30 years but why is it so controversial?
– What is the proposal?
West Cumbria Mining (WCM) plans to open a deep coal mine on the former Marchon chemical works on the outskirts of Whitehaven, Cumbria, to mine metallurgical or coking coal for use in the steel industry.
The mine’s application says that nearly 2.8 million tonnes of coal will be extracted per year. (PA Graphics) – How long has it taken to get approval?
The development was first proposed in 2017 and has been approved three times by Cumbria County Council but then-communities secretary Robert Jenrick decided to “call in” the application so that an inquiry could be held to explore the arguments put forward by both supporters and opponents of the proposal. The decision was repeatedly delayed following the inquiry last year.
– How many jobs will it provide?
The inquiry heard the mine would provide 532 permanent jobs, 80% filled from the local workforce, and support 1,000 jobs in the supply chain. – Why is it so controversial?
A little over a year ago the UK hosted the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, where it lobbied other countries to “consign coal to history”.
Opponents say the decision undermines UK efforts to reach net zero and sends the wrong signals to other countries about its climate priorities.
Labour shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband said it is “no solution to the energy crisis, it does not offer secure, long-term jobs, and it marks this Government giving up on all pretence of climate leadership”.
Demonstrators outside the proposed Woodhouse Colliery, south of Whitehaven
(Owen Humphreys/PA)
Gregory Jones KC, representing WCM at last year’s inquiry, claimed the development would be a world first in being a “net zero compliant” mine and help in the “transition” to a greener steel industry.
But WCM’s case was described as all “smoke and mirrors” by Estelle Dehon, representing South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC).
Ms Dehon said a “myth has been spun” that local mined coal would be used in the UK only, instead of importing US coal, as the raw material could be exported across the world and the “magic of mitigation” and off-setting did not exist in reality. – What do supporters say?
Those who have welcomed the decision say the mine will create jobs and opportunity in the area.
Mike Starkie, Conservative mayor of Copeland in Cumbria, said “the biggest announcement in generations” will “bring jobs, prospects and opportunity to the people of west Cumbria and the people of west Cumbria are going to be grateful for generations”.
The Observer view on the indefensible decision to open a deep coalmine in a climate crisis
The government says the needs of UK steelmaking override the environmental impact. The industry thinks differently
The former colliery site in Westhaven is to be reopened with the first deep coalmine approved in the UK for 30 years.
Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Sun 11 Dec 2022
The Guardian
The decision to approve a new £165m coalmine in Cumbria reveals an unpleasant truth about the government. It demonstrates, with brutal clarity, that No 10 has no credible green agenda and does not understand or care about the climatic peril our world is facing.
Ministers are clearly focused only on short-term, tactical gain – in this case, to give a brief boost to local employment – at the expense of forming a strategy for reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and maintaining world leadership in the battle to limit the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on our climate.
Lord Deben, chair of the Climate Change Committee, the government’s independent adviser, has described the decision to approve the colliery – to be built by West Cumbria Mining – as “absolutely indefensible”. The former Conservative minister is quite correct in this analysis, which, in line with other experts, flatly contradicts the levelling up secretary Michael Gove’s arguments for approving the mine at Woodhouse near Whitehaven.
The government claims that the Woodhouse colliery, the first deep coalmine to be approved for 30 years, will produce coking coal that is desperately needed for steelmaking in Britain and is therefore vital for UK industry as a whole. This is untrue. For one thing, British steelmakers will be legally required – as part of our climate obligations – to move to low-carbon production in the next 13 years. When that happens it will no longer be able to use coking coal. Output from Woodhouse colliery therefore has no long-term future in Britain.
Approval of this coalmine … confirms that the government’s protestations in favour of a green economy are a shamPaul Ekins, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
In any case, the coal that will be dug up at the mine will have a high sulphur content. Many UK steelmakers have indicated that this makes it unacceptable from the start; two companies have already rejected any prospect of ever burning Woodhouse coal. Thus its short-term use in the UK also looks limited, with only one of the current four blast furnaces expected to exploit its coal. As a result, industry figures and energy experts predict that around 90% of Woodhouse’s coal will be exported – to a world that already has a glut of fossil fuels. Steelmaking in Europe is also changing and will rely on hydrogen, not coal, in the near future – leaving Britain to seek markets for its Cumbrian coal in places where environmental constraints are limited. In the process, we will have become a supplier of dirty fuel to the planet.
Approval of the colliery seriously tarnishes the UK’s reputation as a global leader on climate action and opens us up to well-justified charges of hypocrisy. Telling other countries to ditch coal while creating new mines will seriously undermine British negotiators’ chances of influencing climate summits. India and other developing nations will certainly not be happy to be told to avoid using fossil fuels by a country that is exploiting new sources of the most polluting of all hydrocarbons.
It is a grim, unsettling, shameful situation that was summed up by Professor Paul Ekins, of the Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London, last week: “Actions speak louder than words, and approval of this coalmine, instead of seeking investment in renewable energy on the same site, confirms that the government’s protestations in favour of a green economy are a sham.”
Scientists estimate that the colliery will lead to the release of 250m tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years. West Cumbria Mining says it will create around 500 jobs. In an overheating world, which will become increasingly intolerant of fossil fuels, these jobs are going to be short lived. Could Cumbria coalmine be stopped despite government green light?
Mine could affect Britain’s climate commitments, which some believe could help get decision struck down
The former Marchon chemical works in Whitehaven, Cumbria, the site for West Cumbria Mining's application to open the UK's first new coal mine in decades.
The government has given the green light to a new coalmine in Cumbria, the first in the UK for more than 30 years, but already moves have begun to challenge the decision before construction work can start.
Climate campaigners are examining the decision with a view to a legal challenge, based on the UK’s national and international legally binding climate commitments.
The Guardian understands that lawyers working for NGOs will be looking for grounds to bring a high court claim against the planning permission. If such a claim were to succeed, the court could strike down the government’s decision and send it back to ministers to redetermine.
Tony Bosworth, an energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The evidence against this mine is huge. It will have a significant impact on UK climate targets, while the market for coal is already disappearing. The UK steel industry wants to move to greener production, like its counterparts in mainland Europe who are rapidly moving away from coal.”
Another threat to the mine’s future is the general election that must take place within the next two years. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party have all made clear their opposition to the new mine.
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, vowed to keep fighting: “This government has backed a climate-busting, backward-looking, business-wrecking, stranded asset coalmine. This mine is a climate crime against humanity – and such a reckless desire to dig up our dirty fossil fuel past will be challenged every step of the way.”
Protesters are also gearing up to take local action at the site of the mine, and any banks and investors that finance the mine will also be put under pressure in public campaigns.
All of this means that it is possible that the new mine will never be operational. The economic viability of the mine – which will cost £165m, create 500 new jobs and produce an estimated 2.8m tonnes of coking coal a year, for steel-making – is already in doubt. Two UK steel companies have said they will not need its coal, and most leading European steel-makers are adopting green production methods.
Ron Deelan, a former chief executive of British Steel, said: “This is a completely unnecessary step for the British steel industry, which is not waiting for more coal as there is enough on the free market available. The British steel industry needs green investment in electric arc furnaces and hydrogen to protect jobs and make the UK competitive.”
Philip Dunne, the Tory MP who is chair of the environmental audit committee in parliament, said: “Coal is the most polluting energy source, and is not consistent with the government’s net zero ambitions. It is not clear cut to suggest that having a coalmine producing coking coal for steelmaking on our doorstep will reduce steelmakers’ demand for imported coal. On the contrary, when our committee heard from steelmakers earlier this year, they argued that they have survived long enough without UK domestic coking coal and that any purchase of coking coal would be a commercial decision.”
For these reasons, about 83% of the coal produced is likely to be for export, but who the customers may be remains unknown. Steel produced using coal may soon face penalties in the EU, where moves are under way to bring in “carbon border adjustment mechanisms” (CBAMs), which operate as tariffs on high-carbon, favouring lower-carbon products instead, such as steel made with renewable energy.
Simon Nicholas, energy finance analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said: “The decision comes as the UK steel sector calls for government support to transition to low-carbon technology, in a bid to remain competitive with the European steel industry, which has seen an acceleration in its technology transition away from coal in 2022.”
Rebecca Willis, professor in energy and climate governance at the University of Lancaster, said: “There is no business case or scientific justification for this mine, which has only been made possible by a quirk of our planning laws. It will harm the UK’s climate credentials and do very little for communities in Cumbria, where the focus should be on delivering long-term, secure and green jobs.”
Reaction from climate campaigners in developing countries, which have for years been urged by the UK to move away from coal, has also been critical.
Steve Maël Size, of the Care For Environment/CAN group in Cameroon, pointed out that the UK had made coal a key issue in its presidency of the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow last year. “If a power like the UK, which was among the pioneers in the fight against coal, decides to reinvest to open [a coalmine], that would mean that it has long fought for nothing,” he said.
The Moon Eclipses Earth as Seen From Artemis 1
THAT OTHER ONTARIO ED WORKERS STRIKE McMaster, CUPE reach tentative deal to end teaching and research assistant strike
Saturday deal with CUPE 3906 still subject to ratification votes.
McMaster University has reached a tentative collective agreement with the union representing its teaching and research assistants, bringing an end to a three-week labour dispute that some students said caused undue stress during exam season.
The west Hamilton institution announced the deal with CUPE 3906 in a release Saturday morning, saying it is still subject to ratification votes by the union and its board of governors this week.
“Reaching a tentative agreement with our CUPE members is welcome news for everyone involved,” Susan Tighe, McMaster’s provost and vice-president of academics, said in the release. “To our TAs and RAs, you are valued members of our campus community. It is wonderful that we will now be able to work together on successfully completing the fall term and preparing for the start of the winter term in January.”
McMaster said the tentative agreement puts an immediate end to the union’s striking and picketing activities, which began Nov. 21 after talks broke down between the two sides.
Meanwhile, in a Twitter statement Sunday, the union said striking will continue if the deal is rejected by its members.
“Through the ratification process on Monday and Tuesday, our members will determine if they return to work on Wednesday under the new tentative agreement,” CUPE 3906 said.
The union was asking for increased wages in line with the cost of living, guaranteed work, and to close the pay gap between graduate and undergraduate assistants, according to its website.
The details of the deal are not yet clear.
Ontario government reaches tentative deal with 2nd union for education workers
After long and tense negotiations, CUPE education workers have voted in favour of ratifying an agreement with the Ford government. But as Tina Yazdani reports, critics say the fight for public education is far from over.
By The Canadian Press Posted Dec 11, 2022,
TORONTO — The Ontario government has reached a tentative deal with school staff represented by the Ontario Council of Educational Workers.
OCEW issued a statement saying the deal was reached after multiple days of negotiations between the bargaining council, the Council of Trustees’ Association and the province.
It says the tentative deal will go to members for ratification across the province in the coming weeks.
The OCEW is made up of six unions representing thousands of workers at public and catholic school boards across the province, including educational resource facilitators and maintenance and construction workers.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce issued a release saying the deal shows the Progressive Conservative government can deliver agreements with education unions. Neither Lecce nor OCEW disclosed terms of the new contract.
The deal comes weeks after the province locked horns with the 55,000 educational workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who walked off the job for two days last month after the government passed a law imposing a contract on them, banning their right to strike and preemptively invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to guard against constitutional challenges. That law was eventually repealed and the two sides have since ratified a new contract.
Nova Scotia
Environmental assessment sought for Point Tupper hydrogen project
Social Sharing
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Reddit
LinkedIn
EverWind Fuels wants to make hydrogen with smaller
EverWind plans to start making hydrogen at the former NuStar oil and gas storage facility in Point Tupper, N.S., starting in 2025. (EverWind)
The Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change is looking for feedback on a proposed green hydrogen project in Point Tupper, N.S.
EverWind Fuels has filed environmental assessment documents with the province, as it moves toward a goal of producing hydrogen at the former NuStar Energy terminal beginning in 2025.
Public comments on the proposal will be accepted until Jan. 18.
Gretchen Fitzgerald, national programs director for Sierra Club Canada, questions the timeframe for feedback since most people are busy around Christmas holidays.
"It's happening at a time which for a lot of people is the busiest time for their family and friends, so I am not sure that they're giving their best effort to get a greater understanding and comments from the community regarding potential concerns."
EverWind has said its hydrogen-making processes will deliver a much smaller carbon footprint than other traditional methods. Ammonia produced and sold will then be exported and used in various industrial processes, including the production of agricultural fertilizer.
Unresolved questions
A spokesperson for EverWind wasn't available for an interview on Friday.
CBC News also requested an interview with the Department of Environment. Spokesperson Tracy Barron said the timeline for registering a project for environmental assessment resides with the company.
Barron also declined an interview request saying, "As the impartial regulator who will need to make a decision on this, an interview would not be appropriate at this time."
According to documents submitted to the province, EverWind plans to use freshwater from nearby Landrie Lake to produce its hydrogen, and will rely on local wind-energy suppliers as a source of renewable energy.
Having briefly looked over the proposal, Fitzgerald said there are many unresolved questions around water usage and its impact on wetlands and watercourses.
"I don't quite know what to think, and I think that would be a familiar feeling to most people in Nova Scotia," said Fitzgerald.
"I will say, it's refreshing to read a project description that isn't about new oil drilling or a new gold mine."
Fitzgerald said because so little is known about the project, she encouraged project partners to find new ways to better engage the public.
MORE TOP STORIES
COP15
Conservationists optimistic over David Eby's commitments to protect B.C.'s biodiversity
Social Sharing
Facebook
Twitter
Email
Reddit
LinkedIn
Land stewardship mandate letter calls for 30 per cent of
An aerial photograph of the Nahmint Valley outside Port Alberni, B.C., shows protected old growth groves along the water and replanted hillsides that were previously logged. (Chris Corday/CBC)
In mandate letters to his land stewardship and forestry ministers, B.C. Premier David Eby says he wants to double the amount of protected land in the province, support new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, and move faster on recommendations around the logging of old growth trees.
They're conservation goals advocates have been calling on for years to protect B.C.'s unique biodiversity, which has thousands of species at risk due to development and climate change.
"This is potentially a major leap toward protecting endangered ecosystems and the most at-risk, productive stands of old-growth forests left in B.C.," said Ken Wu in a release from the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.
Experts say protected areas help mitigate the worst effects of climate change, contribute to diversifying local economies and advance reconciliation with First Nations.
Conservationists TJ Watt (left), and Ken Wu (right), search for large, significant old growth trees in forests on south Vancouver Island in October 2018. (Chris Corday/CBC)
This week, Eby named his first cabinet as premier, with former energy and mines minister Bruce Ralston taking on forestry and Nathan Cullen replacing Josie Osborne as the minister for water, land and resource stewardship. The new ministry was put in place in February.
The tone of the letters appears to usher in the type of science-based, holistic approach to conservation and biodiversity in the province that people like Wu have been asking for from the B.C. government.
"We have seen the impacts of short-term thinking on the British Columbia land base — exhausted forests, poisoned water, and contaminated sites," wrote Eby is his mandate letter to Cullen.
"These impacts don't just cost the public money to clean up and rehabilitate, they threaten the ability of entire communities to thrive and succeed."
A photograph taken by Karina Dracott shows a pod of killer whales in Prince Rupert on April 25, 2020. (Karina Dracott, Ocean Wise, photo taken under DFO Marine Mammal Research Licence)
The highlight is finding ways to partner with the federal government, First Nations, industry and communities to protect 30 per cent of B.C.'s landbase by 2030, including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs).
IPCAs are lands and waters where Indigenous governments have the primary role in protecting and conserving ecosystems through Indigenous laws, governance and knowledge.
"Research shows that biodiversity thrives on Indigenous-managed lands and waters," said Tori Ball with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, British Columbia.
Canada is committed to protecting 25 per cent of lands and 25 per cent of oceans by 2025,and 30 per cent of each by 2030.
Currently protected lands cover around 15 per cent of B.C.'s land base. Critics say ecological zones with the highest biodiversity are underrepresented.
Both letters also ask for the ministers to implement 14 recommendations made more than two years ago in a review of how old growth trees are logged in B.C., specifically transitioning to an industry that prioritizes the health of ecosystems.
Critics say the government has so far moved too slowly on action items as old growth trees in ecologically-rich areas continue to be logged.
Cullen's mandate letter also calls for the development of a "new conservation financing mechanism to support protection of biodiverse areas," but does not expand on what that might be or how it would work.
B.C. has yet to announce matching funding from the federal government, which ear-marked $55.1 million over three years to establish a B.C. "Old Growth Nature Fund" in its budget earlier this year.
The Sierra Club of B.C. said that reaching the commitments in the letters will depend on immediacy, proper funding, and transparency over timelines and milestones.
"Without immediate change on the ground the window of action to safeguard biodiversity as we know it is rapidly closing," said Jens Wieting with Sierra Club B.C.
B.C. vows to reverse ‘short-term thinking’
with pledge to protect 30% of province by
2030
Advocates say Premier David Eby’s conservation mandate is an ‘important step’ in the fight against biodiversity loss in B.C., which is home to nearly 700 globally imperilled species
The Kaska Dena, who have long been pushing to for an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area to safeguard 40,000 square kilometres of wildlife-rich territory, welcomed B.C.’s conservation pledge. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal
The B.C. government has committed to protecting 30 per cent of the province’s land by 2030, joining global efforts to protect nature and reverse potentially disastrous biodiversity loss.
The commitment to double B.C.’s current land protections was made in Premier David Eby’s mandate letter to Nathan Cullen, B.C.’s new Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. Eby instructed Cullen to ensure land operations in the province guarantee sustainability for future generations and to work closely with Indigenous communities to achieve that goal.
“We have seen the impacts of short-term thinking on the British Columbia land base — exhausted forests, poisoned water and contaminated sites,” Eby’s letter states. “These impacts don’t just cost the public money to clean up and rehabilitate, they threaten the ability of entire communities to thrive and succeed.”
The letter instructs Cullen to partner with the federal government, industry and communities, and to work with Indigenous communities to reach the 2030 protection goal, including through the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) are gaining recognition worldwide for their role in preserving biodiversity and securing a space where communities can actively practice Indigenous ways of life.
“By planning carefully, we can ensure our province enjoys the best of economic development while conserving wild spaces,” Eby writes. “Indigenous partners in this critical work can bring their expertise, knowledge and priorities to the table to ensure this effort lasts for generations.”
B.C. Premier David Eby has committed to protecting 30 per cent of B.C. by 2030, doubling current protections. Photo: Province of British Columbia / Flickr
B.C. is poised to announce a long-awaited nature agreement with the federal government that will include a commitment to new protected areas and, according to internal documents obtained by The Narwhal, new protections for “high profile” species such as boreal caribou and spotted owls. The agreement is referenced in Cullen’s mandate letter, but no details are provided other than that it includes the goal to protect 30 per cent of the province by 2030.
About 15 per cent of B.C.’s land is currently conserved in provincial and federal protected areas.
All members of B.C.’s new cabinet received mandate letters Dec. 7 following a cabinet shuffle that saw Cullen’s predecessor Josie Osborne moved to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation.
In Cullen’s letter, Eby also asks the MLA for Stikine to work with other ministries to develop a “new conservation financing mechanism to support protection of biodiverse areas.”
Conservation groups were quick to applaud the commitments — made as delegates from around the world gather in Montreal for COP15, the United Nations biodiversity conference — calling the news “very encouraging,” “fantastic” and “worthy of international and national attention.”
“It’s great to see provinces like B.C. and Quebec recognizing that the environment and protecting nature is critical, not just for nature, but for the well-being of people and the prosperity of our society,” Dan Kraus, director of national conservation for Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, told The Narwhal, referring to a recent commitment by the Quebec government to protect 30 per cent of its territory by 2030.
B.C. Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Nathan Cullen has a mandate to “protect wildlife and species at risk” while working with Indigenous communities towards 30 by 30 conservation goals. Photo: Province of British Columbia / Flickr
Ken Wu, executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, said B.C. should be commended for committing to federal targets for protecting nature and biodiversity.
“It’s more than what most provinces have done,” Wu said in an interview. “With the exception of Quebec, most provinces have been conservation laggards both in terms of target and in terms of providing funding. So this is an important step.”
Gillian Staveley, director of land stewardship and culture with the Dena Kayeh Institute, said she is pleased the B.C. government is “finally” talking about Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. She praised the “cross-government approach” and called the minister’s letter a “strong mandate.”
“We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and meeting with Minister Cullen as soon as possible to get discussion underway in the work with B.C. to really make our proposed IPCA a reality for the benefit of all British Columbians,” Staveley texted as she boarded a flight to Montreal to attend COP15.
Gillian Staveley, director of land stewardship and culture with the Dena Kayeh Institute, said the B.C. government’s pledge to conserve 30 per cent of land by 2030 is a “big step” in the right direction. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal
The Kaska Dena aim to protect a wildlife-rich area in their territory, known as the “Serengeti of the North,” through a proposed Indigenous protected area that would conserve a 40,000 square-kilometre region.
The Kaska protected area in northern B.C. would surround or connect to six existing protected areas, conserving watersheds and critical habitat for caribou and other species at risk of extinction while creating sustainable jobs. Staveley noted that Cullen has always been supportive of Dene K’eh Kusān, which in Kaska Dena means “always will be there.”
“Having 30 by 30 as a policy priority is also a big step towards the action we need,” Staveley said. “It leaves us hopeful that Premier Eby intends to be an activist premier and he understands the urgency to getting these protections in place to address climate change and loss of biodiversity.” B.C. called the ‘biodiversity jewel’ of Canada
Wu and Kraus said they will be watching closely to see which areas of B.C. are protected, noting it’s of paramount importance to conserve areas at the highest risk of biodiversity loss.
Kraus called B.C. the “biodiversity jewel” of Canada. The province has almost 700 globally imperilled species, more than any other province or territory, and a high number of globally threatened ecosystems — 88 at last count, but Kraus noted that ecosystems are not tracked nearly as well as individual species. B.C. also ranks number one in Canada for endemic species, which top 100. Endemic species do not occur naturally in any other part of the world.
“What happens in B.C. is critical for meeting both national and global biodiversity targets,” Kraus said.
Places with high numbers of threatened species and globally imperilled ecosystems include the Lower Mainland and Okanagan area in B.C.’s interior, as well as the provincial capital area of Victoria where almost nothing remains of the now-rare Garry Oak ecosystem that once carpeted the region.
Northern spotted owls, which in Canada live only in old-growth forests in southwest B.C., are critically endangered. Photo: Province of British Columbia / Flickr
The endangered Victoria’s owl-clover grows in imperilled Garry Oak ecosystems in the southern part of B.C. around Victoria. Photo: Brian Starzomski
“We do know where those places are,” Kraus said. “And that focus on biodiversity areas allows us to protect habitat that will [conserve] a whole bunch of species at risk — globally imperiled species [and] nationally imperiled species that aren’t yet listed under the Species At Risk Act … we can be proactive in conserving them by protecting those habitat areas.”
Eby’s letter also instructs Cullen to “protect wildlife and species at risk.” It makes no mention of enacting a stand-alone law to protect B.C.’s growing number of species and ecosystems at risk of extinction, as promised in the 2017 mandate letter for B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change George Heyman — but then quietly dropped by the B.C. NDP government.
Instead, Cullen is asked to protect and enhance B.C.’s biodiversity by implementing the recommendations of an old-growth strategic review panel and a somewhat vague, previously announced strategy called Together for Wildlife.
Wu said Eby’s commitment to create a new conservation financing mechanism “may just be words” but the words signify the province is on the right path to establish economic development funding for First Nations tied to protecting places at the greatest risk of biodiversity loss.
“If they follow through with that, without spin, then that is a monumental leap forward,” he said, cautioning that the province has undertaken “creative accounting” in the past regarding how it counts protected areas. Designations such as old-growth management areas, ungulate winter range and wildlife habitat areas lack permanence or the standards of legally protected areas, Wu pointed out.
“Some of these conservation regulations are sort of like the cryptocurrency of protected areas,” he said. New initiatives could end B.C.’s ‘war in the woods’
Other key elements of Cullen’s mandate include working with First Nations to “improve the protection and stewardship of forest resources, habitats, biodiversity and cultural heritage in the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement” and to “work toward modern land use plans and permitting processes rooted in science and Indigenous knowledge that consider new and cumulative impacts to the land base.”
Cullen was also instructed to work with the Ministry of Forests to begin implementation of recommendations made by an old-growth strategic review panel, which called for a paradigm shift in the way B.C. manages its forests and immediate deferrals from logging for old-growth forests at the highest risk of biodiversity loss.
In a 2019 United Nations report, scientists warned global biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate, with about one million species facing extinction. They also said there is still time to turn things around with transformative change.
At the biodiversity conference underway in Montreal, close to 200 countries are working to finalize an agreement to reverse biodiversity loss and avoid devastating outcomes from the sixth mass extinction event in the Earth’s history, caused by human activity.
The global agreement aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve its full recovery by 2050.
Wu said B.C. must develop protection targets for all ecosystems and prioritize protection for the most endangered and least represented ecosystems. Economic development funding for First Nations should be tied to the protection of the most at-risk most productive old-growth forests, he said. Old-growth forests with the highest productivity — the biggest trees and the most species at risk of extinction — are found in valley bottoms.
Wu said the province will “get the job done” with a land acquisition fund that can also be used to buy private lands with endangered ecosystems.
“If they protect the valley bottoms, southern parts of the province, lower elevations most at risk, [and] old-growth forests and ecosystems, then they could put an end to the 50-year-old war in the woods.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was unequivocal Wednesday when asked if Canada was going to meet its goal to protect one-quarter of all Canadian land and oceans by 2025.
"I am happy to say that we are going to meet our '25 by 25' target," Trudeau said during a small roundtable interview with journalists on the sidelines of the nature talks taking place in Montreal.
That goal, which would already mean protecting 1.2 million more square kilometres of land, is just the interim stop on the way to conserving 30 per cent by 2030 -- the marquee target Canada is pushing for during the COP15 biodiversity conference.
But what does the conservation of land or waterways actually mean?
"When we talk about protecting land and water, we're talking about looking at a whole package of actions across broader landscapes," said Carole Saint-Laurent, head of forest and lands at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The group's definition of "protected area," which is used by the UN convention on biodiversity, refers to a "clearly defined geographical space" that is managed by laws or regulations with the goal of the long-term protection of nature.
"It can range from areas with very strict protections to areas that are being protected or conserved," said Saint-Laurent.
"We have to look at that entire suite of protective and restorative action in order to not only save nature, but to do so in a way that is going to help our societies. There is not one magical formula, and context is everything."
The organization, which keeps its own global "green list" of conserved areas, lists 17 criteria for how areas can fit the definition.
Most of the criteria are centred on how the sites are managed and protected. One allows for resource extraction, hunting, recreation and tourism as long as these are both compatible with and supportive of the conservation goals outlined for the area.
In many cases, industrial activities and resource extraction are not allowed in protected areas. But that's not always true in Canada, particularly when it involves the rights of Indigenous Peoples on their traditional territory.
In some provincial parks, mining and logging are allowed. In Ontario's Algonquin Park, for example, logging is permitted in about two-thirds of the park area.
Canada has nearly 10 million square kilometres of terrestrial land, including inland freshwater lakes and rivers, and about 5.8 million square kilometres of marine territory.
As of December 2021, Canada had conserved 13.5 per cent of land and almost 14 per cent of marine territory. The government did it through a combination of national and provincial parks and reserves, wildlife areas, migratory bird sanctuaries, national marine conservation areas, marine protected areas and what are referred to as "other effective areas-based conservation measures."
These can include private lands that have a management plan to protect and conserve habitats, or public or private lands where conservation isn't the primary focus but still ends up happening.
Canadian Forces Base Shilo, in Manitoba, includes about 211 square kilometres of natural habitats maintained under an environmental protection plan run by the Department of National Defence.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is a non-profit organization that raises funds to buy plots of land from private owners with a view to long-term conservation.
Mike Hendren, its Ontario regional vice-president, said that on such lands, management plans can include everything from nature trails to hunting -- but always with conservation as the priority.
To hit "25 by 25," Canada must further protect more than 1.2 million square kilometres of land, or approximately the size of Manitoba and Saskatchewan added together. To get to 30 per cent is to add, on top of that, land almost equivalent in size to Alberta.
The federal government would need to protect another 638,000 square kilometres of marine territory and coastlines by 2025, or an area almost three times the size of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. By 2030, another area the size of the gulf would need to be added.
Trudeau said that in a country as big and diverse as Canada, hard and fast rules about what can and can't happen in protected areas don't make sense.
He said there should be distinctions between areas that can't have any activity and places where you can mine, log or hunt, as long as it is done with conservation in mind.
"There's ability to have sort of management plans that are informed by everyone, informed by science, informed by various communities, that say, 'yes, we're going to protect this area and that means, no, there's not going to be unlimited irresponsible mining going to happen,"' he said.
"But it doesn't mean that there aren't certain projects in certain places that could be the right kind of thing, or the right thing to move forward on."
The draft text of the biodiversity framework being negotiated at COP15 is not yet clear on what kind of land and marine areas would qualify or what conservation of them would specifically mean.
It currently proposes that a substantial portion of the conserved land would need to be "strictly protected" but some areas could respect the right to economic development.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers remarks during the opening ceremony of the COP15 UN conference on biodiversity in Montreal, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022. Trudeau was unequivocal Wednesday when asked if Canada was going to meet its goal to protect one-quarter of all Canadian land and oceans by 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)
Northern spotted owls, which in Canada live only in old-growth forests in southwest B.C., are critically endangered. Photo: Province of British Columbia / 
