Environment committee  I'll be happy to jump in briefly on this one. You mentioned Nova Scotia Nature Trust, which is an organization created in Nova Scotia for that kind of purpose. The problem is that done privately it's very expensive, and in practice relatively small advances have been made. The great part of it is that it involves communities, so that people get involved in it.

Environment committee  I'm happy to pick up on this. First of all, it's important to recognize that environmental variability is normal. And secondly, environments adapt. In other words, species and biodiversity adapt to change. How do we therefore build a system that is able to be adaptive? We need protected areas, we need systems of protected areas, and we need linked systems of protected areas, so that as environment changes it's possible for species, organisms, and systems to move within that system of protected areas.

Environment committee  Conservation is something people care about, and that's why they'll put the effort in.

Environment committee  Yes, it would definitely need, as you put it, a secretariat. It wouldn't have to be a very large one. We would need technical experts who were able to manage the software component of it. We would also need what I would call a police person or a policeman who would be empowered to be able to kick off people who were disruptive, and that's quite possible to do.

Environment committee  My wife always tells me that I have to double everything whenever I estimate costs. I brought these along for a specific purpose. I have three copies here. Unfortunately, I don't have enough to be able to give one to everybody. These two books here were produced at no cost. We held a conference, we asked people to come to the conference, they paid registration fees for the conference, and part of the money was to give them a book at the end of the conference about what they talked about.

Environment committee  Oh, most definitely I would accept it as a resource. Would I accept it as the only resource? Absolutely not. But one of the benefits of this kind of approach is it allows you to put in links to original sources. By consequence, you can find out whether a particular piece of information is valid or not valid.

Environment committee  Thank you.

Environment committee  Thank you very much. Thank you to the committee for welcoming me here. My name is Martin Willison. I am 68 years old and a retired professor of biology and environmental studies at Dalhousie University. I currently hold the title of adjunct professor in the university's School for Resource and Environmental Studies and Marine Affairs Program.