Environment committee  Yes, although it does not sponsor research per se, but the infrastructure in which we reside.

Environment committee  Thank you.

Environment committee  Implementation is a huge problem. I think SARA could be implemented if there were the political will to do that. So to some extent, I guess, I throw the question back to you. I have been very concerned when files are sitting on environmental ministers' desks and not moving, some

Environment committee  Pollution per se, I'm not so sure, but changing habitats have critically devastating effects on migratory birds. This is because they are sensitive to protecting habitat not in one location but protecting habitat along their migratory paths from Canada to the south. More and mo

Environment committee  A little bit.

Environment committee  It is natural for a species to go extinct. It is not natural for them to go extinct at the rate that they're currently going extinct. The other issue is that it's a biased extinction. The species that are going extinct are the ones that cannot co-exist with humans, that are not

Environment committee  I think it is urgent that we protect land quickly, and especially protect marine areas. There are glass sponges in the basin off the Pacific coast here that are being endangered by trawling and other fisheries efforts. We have to act quickly.

Environment committee  A balanced approach, certainly. But I would also say that SARA does take a fairly balanced approach. If you take a look at those seven recovery action plans that have been made, they're not all about habitat. Indeed, not one of them protects additional habitat than what was alrea

Environment committee  Since we wrote that report, I'm pleased to say that a lot of our efforts at the Biodiversity Research Centre and the associated Beaty Biodiversity Museum have been exactly that—to make our data publicly accessible. We're in the midst of that databasing effort. I think that if t

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  Yes, and there are provincial efforts along the same direction as well.

Environment committee  Yes, and some of that is already available. You can go online into global databases such as GBIF to find out exactly where species have been recorded. Mind you, the efforts are very biased to where people are looking, and that tends to be in the highly populated areas, so we do

Environment committee  We are certainly in the midst of one of the most major extinctions of life on this planet, and at the rate it's going now, we will soon become, I believe, the most important extinction event. I have to say that I am not a climate scientist, but the experts who I have consulted

Environment committee  I'll speak to your question about basic science. I am a basic scientist, and I think many of the people who are active in science believe themselves to be fundamentally interested in the processes that have led to and maintain the diversity around us. But I can't study the evolu

Environment committee  These changes happened very recently. I am not aware yet of scientific assessments of the changes that have been caused. I am sure there will be some, and we will be tracking that.