Native Plants As Habitat For Wildlife - Native Plant Society of ...

maintenance of a wide array of ecological services. The maintenance of hydrological
cycles (groundwater recharge, watershed protection, and buffering against extreme
events), climate regulation, soil production and fertility, protection from erosion, nutrient
storage and cycling, and pollutant breakdown and absorption are some of these services.
They are fundamental to the quality of our life and our economy, and they are often
grossly undervalued by society.
Threats to Biodiversity
The amazing variety of living things that are the foundation of life is disappearing. Past
and current practices including habitat destruction and fragmentation, pollution, and over
harvesting have disturbed ecosystems and ecosystem services. Human activity has been
changing ecosystems for thousands of years but, in Saskatchewan the pace and extent of
change has increased since European settlement about 150 years ago. The principle
threats to the province’s land and aquatic biodiversity can be summarized under five
main headings including habitat loss and fragmentation, non-native species invasion,
pesticides and pollution, over-harvesting.
For example agricultural soils are being lost either through erosion or agricultural
practices that are unsustainable. Drainage of wetlands has resulted in the loss of native
aquatic systems and other drainage has left communities vulnerable to flooding. Invasive
species including Dutch elm disease, leafy spurge and purple loose strife cause damage to
agricultural and natural systems and negatively affect populations of native species.
Chemical by-products from human activities are damaging the ozone layer and are
responsible for global warming.
What Can We Do
The complexity of the threats to biodiversity call for a wide range of responses across a
large number of private and public sectors.
Global Initiative: United Nations Convention
The world wide impact of the decline of biological resources inspired the global
community to successfully negotiate the United Nations Convention on Biological
Diversity in 1992. The Convention on Biological Diversity was signed by Canada at the
June 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil and ratified in December 1992. Canada was the first
industrialized country to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity
National Initiative: Canadian Biodiversity Strategy
Canada’s primary response to the Convention on Biological Diversity has been the
development of the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy. The strategy is an important first
step in providing a national framework for jurisdictional and sectoral planning and
reporting. The completed strategy was released in November, 1995 and received
Ministerial endorsement from all jurisdictions in April, 1996. All federal, provincial and
territorial governments are now committed to its five goals.
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