The future of Canada's ecosystems

The future of Canada's ecosystems will be determined by the willingness of government, industry and individuals to make choices that will not result is in the loss of ecosystem components and functions for the sake of short sighted economic gains. This will be achieved through developing and implementing sustainable development policies backed by improved education and ecosystem science.

On a practical level, Canada will need to reduce the source and impact of the many threats to ecosystems such as controlling waste and pollution, and carefully planning human uses of Canada's land and waters so that ecosystem components and functions are not compromised.

Establishing protected areas will continue to be a conservation goal, but there is a growing awareness that protected areas, by themselves, cannot preserve all the values of society over the long term. The trend to ecosystem-based management, whereby environmental, economic and social values are measured and considered, will continue to grow as a management model for landscapes and seascapes.

Partnerships and a shared vision between government and industry, such as that seen in the forest sector, will help insure better land stewardship. The role of individual land owners, who have shown that they are often the best stewards of their lands, will be important to the conservation of ecosystems in southern Canada which is dominated by private land ownership.

It is recognized that the science that supports ecosystem management requires strengthening. Measurement of complex functional relationships found in ecosystems and weighing the ecological consequences of various development scenarios will be critical in the years to come. Science must also be able to effectively feed the decision-making machinery of government and industry so that Canada maintains a rich ecological heritage.