COSSARO Videos

General overview of the ESA and COSSARO

Learn about Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and the role COSSARO plays in helping to protect and recover species at risk in Ontario.

Transcript

Over 40 species of plants and animals have disappeared from Ontario.

Opening (voiceover with slideshow of SAR as visual):
The caribou, the blue racer, the barn owl & the butternut tree are all species at risk in Ontario. More than 180 species of plants, fish, mammals and birds in this province  are in danger of disappearing. That's why Ontario needed a new and tougher Endangered Species Act. This is the strongest legislation in North America that  protects species and their habitats.  It protects three times as many species at risk as before and provides flexibility for businesses to operate in sustainable ways.

To determine whether a species may be at risk, the act also established the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario, or COSSARO. It sets the criteria for assessing and classifying species, and prioritizes which species will be assessed next. Species classified as at risk by the Committee are automatically placed on the Species at Risk in Ontario list regulation within 90 days.

Species can be placed in five classifications: extinct, extirpated - meaning it no longer exists in Ontario but does exist elsewhere -, endangered, threatened or special concern. COSSARO uses the best available scientific information, community knowledge and aboriginal traditional knowledge to decide if a species is at risk.

Species at Risk: Ontario’s Response

Discover how species get on the Species at Risk in Ontario list, what MNR biologists are doing to help protect and recover them and what Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield has to say. 

Transcript

How do you determine which species are at risk?
Brock Fenton, Chair of COSSARO
To determine if a species is at risk we collect as much information as possible about it. We’re interested to know first of all where it occurs.  There may be one occurrence or there may be several occurrences.  We’re also interested in knowing the size of the population.  How many individuals are there.  Is the number increasing or is the number decreasing.  We also need to be sure the species is native to Canada and has not been introduced. 

The new act is and improvement over the old one b/c within three months of receiving a report from COSSARO, or recommendation, the Minister posts the information and the listing takes effect. This is an important improvement b/c it allows the government to more quickly respond to cases where protection has to be put in place for a species or in fact to be able to say that a species is not at risk.

How do you help the species at risk that have been identified and put on the Species at Risk in Ontario list?
Melinda Thompson-Black, Species at Risk Biologist
As a species at risk biologist there are a number of things I do to help species at risk.  I assist COSSARO by performing inventories on species and collecting data they can use to assess the status of species. 

I also prepare habitat regulations which are a requirement under the Endangered Species Act and provide detailed information that allows us to protect the habitat for species at risk.

I also work closely with recovery teams to write recovery strategies for endangered and threatened species and I help prepare government response statements which detail how we can recover species at risk. 

I work very closely with landowners, organizations and members of the public to educate them about species at risk and also to develop stewardship projects that directly benefit species at risk.

How is protecting species at risk going to benefit Ontarians?
Donna Cansfield, Minister of Natural Resources
There’s a reason we have a law to protect species at risk. Ontario has a great natural wealth, and it all depends on an intricate balance of species. We may not even know how important a species is to our health and our whole ecosystem.

We also have a basic responsibility to live and to work sustainably. That’s our contract with the next generation, and we do have a moral obligation. That’s why we have brought together some of the best conservation biologists and put them on COSSARO.

Our government created a new Endangered Species Act to make Ontario the North American leader in species at risk protection and recovery. It works because it’s based on science.

Thanks to COSSARO’s efforts, this Act is already protecting more animals.  We’re taking steps to protect species against threats as they emerge.

The reality is, as a province, we need biodiversity not merely to survive, but to thrive.
COSSARO is doing great work, and I look forward to hearing more from them as we work together to protect the health of all species and habitat.