I would like to start by putting the numbers in context. I provided two numbers: 79% of respondents felt that there was insufficient data and 84% of respondents felt that the quality of information was insufficient.
I will use my company as an example because of course that is what I know best.
We are currently drawing up a plan that will help us identify the most sensitive areas in terms of biodiversity. We can use other sources, for example, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's red list. There are also others available. It is quite difficult for us to quickly survey our sites and identify those that require immediate action. There are probably a hundred sites in Canada.
Access to data banks and, especially, access to GIS would be very useful. It would be much easier to immediately focus on those sites. We are just beginning to set up this program so what we have at this point are basic data. Ideally we would be starting off with data that would send us in the right direction.
It was stated earlier that conservation and biodiversity improvement requires the participation of several sectors, such as business, government, NGOs and individuals. At this point in time, we have no means of consolidating that and identifying opportunities. Using connectivity could help us link those activities that we do on our own site to other activities in other areas. This would lead to improvements that we could never accomplish on our own.