Joint Meeting of Ministers, Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council and Wildlife Ministers’ Council of Canada

The Canadian Biodiversity Strategy, adopted five years ago, sets out Canada's  response to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Canada ratified the  Convention in 1992.  

The development of the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy was an example of  federal-provincial-territorial cooperation at its best. On Earth Day 1996 all  jurisdictions signed a Statement of Commitment pledging to use the strategy as a  guide to their actions and inviting all Canadians to join with them in  conserving biodiversity and using Canada's biological resources in a sustainable  manner.  

Each jurisdiction has been implementing the strategy according to its own  priorities and circumstances. There has been a growing recognition, however,  that there are issues of cross-Canada importance for which it is not efficient  for jurisdictions to act alone, or that exceed their capacities to address  individually and therefore require collaborative action. There is also a need  for cross-sectoral cooperation.  

To that end, the Fisheries, Forests, and Wildlife Ministerial Councils have  met jointly, and agreed to collaborate on priority biodiversity issues of  Canada-wide concern. Specifically, Ministers agreed to work collaboratively  towards the achievement of the following:  

   
• to develop, by the fall of 2002, a draft plan to address the growing threat  of invasive alien species;  
   
• to develop, by the fall of 2003, a biodiversity science and research agenda  for Canada to more effectively understand and address the underlying causes of  biodiversity loss, and as an order of first priority under that agenda to  develop, by fall of 2002, a strategy to enhance the collection, management,  sharing, analysis and accessibility of biological information to better support  decision-making;  
   
• to develop by the fall of 2002 a business plan to enhance the effectiveness  and efficiency of monitoring and integration of biodiversity data and  information across ecosystems to facilitate regular reporting on biodiversity  status and trends commencing in 2005. These action plans will respect provincial  and territorial jurisdictions, and take into account activities already in  place; and  
   
• to develop, by the fall of 2003, a biodiversity stewardship strategy that  supports and builds on the existing commitment of Wildlife Ministers to  development of a Canada-Wide Stewardship Action Plan and enhances efforts to  engage all sectors of Canadian society in biodiversity conservation.

A federal-provincial-territorial biodiversity working group will report back  to Ministers, on progress achieved on advancing commitments made regarding these  Canada-wide priorities.