Madam Chair and committee members, my name is Bob Lowe. My family and I farm in Alberta near the town of Nanton. Beside me is Fawn Jackson, the environmental manager for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.
Thank you for the invitation to speak on behalf of Canada's beef producers with regard to the national conservation plan for Canada. As vice-chair of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association environment committee this area is of great interest and importance to me.
Ranchers are in a unique position when it comes to business and the environment as we are able to own and operate dynamic, profitable businesses within a natural habitat that supply many ecosystem services to the Canadian public. We feel there are many opportunities for us to collaborate to reach conservation goals through a stewardship approach. Ranchers hold the front line on North America's threatened and disappearing grasslands. Grasslands sequester much carbon for us, play a key role in storing and filtering water, and are the home to an abundance of species at risk. Needless to say we have an important role to play.
Ranchers have been and will continue to be involved in habitat conservation as it is the nature of our business. As ranches are passed down from generation to generation, an enormous amount of regionally specific environmental knowledge is accumulated. Ranchers have partnered successfully with many environmentally oriented organizations such as Ducks Unlimited Canada, Cows and Fish, MULTISAR, and provincial organizations such as the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, Manitoba Conservation Districts Association, and Alberta's rangeland management branch.
The key to the success of these collaborations has been the emphasis on stewardship approaches to conservation, as well as the dual priority of helping ranchers reach their operational goals. Many of these organizations face declining financial resources despite the fact that the importance of their work continues to grow as they help to achieve conservation and economic goals for Canada.
Further support of these programs will have positive impacts on achieving both conservation and agricultural objectives. One way to achieve support for these programs would be through the Species at Risk Act habitat stewardship program. A portion of the habitat stewardship fund should be placed aside specifically for agriculture. The programs that get the funding should be supported by agricultural producers, and the funding should be timely and accessible. There could be potential for the agricultural industry to administer these funds to ensure the highest amount of efficiency and effectiveness.
The Canadian beef industry supports the intention of the Species at Risk Act to protect and recover wildlife species at risk in Canada. We encourage this government to take a made-in-Canada stewardship approach to protecting species at risk, and avoid the confrontational atmosphere south of the border. The Canadian beef industry encourages the government to do everything possible to implement an act that is truly based on the stewardship approach and respects private landowner rights, as we will be able to achieve much greater success through collaborative stewardship than cumbersome regulation.
We believe that regulators have to keep two basic principles in mind. Number one, if a species at risk is viewed as a liability to the land manager it will always be at risk. Number two, if a species at risk is found on a rancher's land it must be assumed that the land manager is doing things right.
The government can help to foster improved relationships between agriculture and conservation as collaborative stewardship efforts will help optimize the output of both. We need stronger ties between Environment Canada, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and a regulatory environment that supports a stewardship approach.
The Government of Canada could also help by creating a seed fund for ecosystem service programs. Farmers and ranchers do their best to manage their lands in the most sustainable manner possible. However, financial or other resource constraints may limit the uptake of new environmental technologies or practices. The benefits derived from positive environmental management practices may also be greater than those received by the individual producer with the broader public benefiting, and consequently the incentive to invest at an individual level may be below the optimal level. Financial support would enable and incent producers to adopt practices that enhance ecosystem services provided to society. As a friend of mine said, “If it's for the public good, perhaps the public should pay”.
The CCA has a vision for a national framework for ecosystem service programs that are delivered regionally. To make any ecosystem service program successful it is recognized that local solutions must address local priorities with both buyers and sellers involved. We thus encourage this government to develop a program that local groups could apply to in order to access seed money to support regional ecosystem service programs.
Thank you for the opportunity to present. I look forward to Fawn answering your questions.