Canada Has Done Little to Save the Endangered Caribou, Report Finds

In its second annual review of government efforts to conserve Canada’s boreal caribou, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) finds that threats to this species from industrial development—and especially from the fossil fuels sector—have continued to increase while conservation and restoration efforts have shown little progress across the country.

“” (pdf), a report released Tuesday, notes that the caribou “is often an indicator of a healthy boreal forest ecosystem,” and that “[i]f we successfully conserve our remaining boreal caribou populations, we will not only save one of our country’s most iconic wildlife species, but will also be conserving significant areas of the world’s remaining intact forests and wetlands.”

While the Canadian government in 2012 released a federal recovery strategy for boreal caribou under the country’s Species-at-Risk Act, provinces and territories have been slow to implement concrete conservation and restoration measures. In fact, CPAWS found that only one province (Manitoba) and one territory (Northwest Territories) implemented concrete measures in the past 12 months that will protect the species.