OTTAWA – Last month’s report from the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) delivered this stark warning: “Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.”

“Eminent scientists are warning us, yet again, that the planet is on the verge of catastrophe,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands). “Canada’s 2002 Species At Risk Act declared Canada’s commitment to conserving biological diversity. Clearly we need to divert more resources to that goal. We must better protect wild spaces upon which biodiversity depends. Nature doesn’t thrive on manicured lawns and monocultures, it thrives on meadows, prairie grasslands, wildflower corridors and organic farms. The insects, birds and microorganisms that form the foundation of healthy ecosystems need diversity.”

Green Party Deputy Leader Daniel Green said: “ Everything is interconnected. The survival of the St. Lawrence belugas is also linked to our own survival. We need to better protect the species at risk in this country. We must strengthen the Species At Risk Act (SARA), and protect habitats essential to the survival of species under threat. We must stop destroying nature.”

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For more information or to arrange an interview contact:

Rosie Emery

Press Secretary

613-562-4916x206

rosie.emery@greenparty.ca