Protecting Spaces and Species: Parks, Wilderness, Habitat, and Wildlife

• Author: Jamie Benidickson
• Profession: Faculty of Law University of Ottawa
• Pages: 255-272

255

CHAPTER 14

PROTECTING SPACES

AND SPECIES: PARKS,

WILDERNESS, HABITAT,

AND WILDLIFE

A. THE RATIONALE

Many features of environmental law safeguard human populations

from the adverse effects and other impacts of environmental contami-

nation and deterioration. Other initiatives, however, are specifically

designed to protect the environment and its non-human inhabitants

from seemingly inexorable human interventions, even where such

interventions — a transportation corridor, or a drainage program, for

example — are widely perceived as “improvements.” Along with pol-

lution, developments of this kind impose severe costs on wildlife either

by contamination, fragmentation of breeding territories, or destruction

of certain types of vital habitat and migration routes. In addition, of

course, humans themselves value natural spaces for a range of eco-

nomic, social, and spiritual reasons.

The Canadian Wilderness Charter, a document developed under the

auspices of the World Wildlife Fund Canada and signed by more than

half a million people, constitutes a powerful statement of the rationale

for protecting wild and natural spaces. Humankind, the charter

reminds us, is but one of millions of species sharing a planet whose

future is severely threatened by our activities. Much of the Earth’s for-

mer wilderness character is already lost, thereby endangering many

species and ecosystems, but Canadians still have the opportunity to

complete a network of protected areas representing the biological

diversity of the country. For their inherent value, for their influence on

256 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

1 M. Hummel, ed., Endangered Spaces: The Future for Canada’s Wilderness

(Toronto: Key Porter, 1989) 275.

national identity, and in light of an intrinsic human need for spiritual

rekindling and artistic inspiration, Canada’s remaining wild spaces

should be protected. Protected areas can serve a variety of purposes,

including preserving a genetic reservoir of wild plants and animals for

future use and appreciation; producing economic benefits from envi-

ronmentally sensitive tourism; offering opportunities for research and

environmental education; and maintaining options for traditional

wilderness use by aboriginal people.1

Measures offering potential avenues of protection to spaces and

species are found in many pieces of general legislation. The Fisheries

Act, for example, prohibits the deposit of deleterious substances into

water frequented by fish and the destruction of fish habitat, while envi-

ronmental assessment procedures may be used to identify develop-

mental threats to natural environments and non-human populations

and to propose mitigative measures. In addition, habitat-protection

policies dealing with wetlands may provide guidance in the context of

land-use planning. This chapter addresses a number of other programs

and legal mechanisms used to defend spaces and species.

B. PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPACES

Programs to safeguard a category known cumulatively as conservation

lands include park and wildlife-management areas or sanctuaries at the

national, provincial, and territorial levels, as well as forest and ecolog-

ical reserves, recreational land reserves, and a variety of special

arrangements such as conservation easements and stewardship agree-

ments to preserve private lands in their natural state. The total area

protected in Canada according to the World Wildlife Fund’s conclud-

ing report on the endangered spaces campaign (1989–2000) amounts

to approximately 68 million hectares or 6.8 percent of the land base.

The extent of protected areas as a percentage of each jurisdiction in

Canada is as follows: Federal, 2.5 percent; Yukon, 10.38 percent;

Northwest Territories/Nunavut, 5.2 percent; British Columbia, 11.4

percent; Alberta, 9.9 percent; Saskatchewan, 6.0 percent; Manitoba, 8.6

percent; Ontario, 8.7 percent; Quebec, 4.3 percent; New Brunswick,