Three Amigos Talk Butterflies and Birds
Stephen Hazell
Director of Conservation
and General Counsel
It’s been more than two and a half years since the three leaders of North America last met. So it was great that Prime Minister Trudeau, President Obama, and President Nieto gathered in Ottawa last week to sign the North American Climate, Clean Energy, and Environment Partnership Action Plan.
While the Action Plan’s commitments on clean energy and climate received most of the attention, commitments on biodiversity–such as continuing efforts to conserve Monarch Butterflies and their habitat–are also important. During the official announcements on June 29, Presidents Nieto and Obama proudly touched upon the heritage importance of the Monarch Butterfly. The specific mention of the eastern population of Monarchs was a nice surprise in the Action Plan, really emphasizing the trilateral scope of the agreement.
There was however, no specific commitment of resources to biodiversity conservation. If there is a financial commitment, there is always more likely stronger action to accomplish the conservation goals. On the topic of Monarch conservation, last year Nature Canada met with the Mexican ambassador, and also established a petition to get Canada on board with financial backing to conserve the Monarchs. It would be significant for Canada to at least match the US commitment announced in 2015 of US$3.2 million toward habitat expansion. It’s important for Canada to uphold its role in Monarch Butterfly conservation as climate change has already started to disrupt the migration of Monarchs between Mexico and Canada.
Other topics such as protecting migratory birds and species at risk had a fairly weak backing, and grasslands protection and common species recovery were not mentioned at all in the Action Plan.
The leaders also touched on incorporating Indigenous knowledge to be part of informing natural resource management, which is a very interesting and commendable addition to the Action Plan.
Overall the announcements at the North American Leaders Summit had some commendable direction on climate, environment, and conservation but more emphasis and financial back up on the conservation side is needed to implement these goals. It’s important to remember the link of investing in nature conservation and its significant impact on addressing climate change.
