7. Adapting to a Changing
World, Krista Blackborow & Dianne Watkins, Biodiversity
Convention Office of Environment Canada
In keeping with this year’s International Biodiversity Day
theme, the April 16, 2007 meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial
Biodiversity Working Group in Winnipeg, Manitoba included a one-day
symposium on Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation.
Under the theme “resilience and adaptation”, one of
the four themes addressed at the symposium, Ms. Krista Blackborow
of Environment Canada’s Biodiversity Convention Office presented
“Linking Plant Conservation with Adaptation to Climate Change”
on behalf of David Galbraith, Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), Burlington,
ON. This presentation described global plant conservation efforts
– in particular the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
(GSPC) - as a foundation for building ecosystem resilience. It also
highlighted the role of the RBG as National Focal Point (NFP) for
coordination of the GSPC in Canada.
The GSPC was developed in response to a declaration from a group
of botanists in April 2000 in Gran Canaria, Spain. They recommended
that “a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation and associated
programme for its implementation should be developed urgently, within
the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).”
The GSPC was subsequently adopted by the 6th Conference of the Parties
(COP-6) to the CBD in The Hague, Netherlands in 2002.
The ultimate and long-term objective of the GSPC is to halt the
current and continuing loss of plant diversity. It aims to complement
national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and build upon
and harmonize existing global and national initiatives. The goals
of the GSPC are to:
- understand, document and conserve plant diversity;
- use it sustainably;
- promote education and awareness about plant diversity; and
- build capacity for its conservation.
In July 2006 Environment Canada designated the RBG as the NFP for
the GSPC. In fulfilling this role, the RBG promotes and coordinates
implementation and monitoring of the GSPC at the national level
and facilitates communication and networking between national and
international stakeholders. The Symposium on Biodiversity and Climate
Change Adaptation provided an opportunity to raise awareness of
the GSPC and the role of the NFP with the Federal-Provincial-Territorial
Biodiversity Working Group.
The RBG’s role in building national level synergies, including
with the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Biodiversity Working Group,
will be of utmost importance as we move forward with an in-depth
review of the GSPC and the next phase of implementation. The in-depth
review by the CBD Subsidiary Body on Scientific Technical and Technological
Advice (SBSTTA) is scheduled for its 13th meeting in July 2007.
The SBSTTA will have before it a second declaration from the Gran
Canaria group of botanists calling for the need to respond to the
global challenge of climate change within the framework of the GSPC.
The Symposium showcased a variety of mitigation and adaptation
options, tools and best practices; and examined the role of monitoring,
modelling and prediction. Dr. Jeffrey Thorpe, of the Saskatchewan
Research Council, presented a policy analysis of nineteen protected
areas in the Prairie Ecoregion of Canada. The analysis examined
the extent to which present policies were suitable for different
climate change scenarios. Management implications of different scenarios
were highlighted - including the risk of “frozen landscapes”
that may be representative at the present time, but may be unable
to adapt to climate change due to a lack of natural or managed resilience.
The notion of transferring species to areas outside their current
ranges as a climate adaptation measure generated much discussion
in the Working Group.
The GSPC, together with other initiatives highlighted at the April
16, 2007 symposium, can make a significant contribution to Canada’s
preparedness to adapt to a changing world.
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The Montréal Botanical Garden
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