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Why we have protected areas

For more than a century and throughout the world, governments have created various kinds of protected natural areas.

They have done this in order to save valued heritage, such as beautiful landscapes, rare species, and wildlife populations. Nature reserves, national parks, and provincial wildlife reserves are typical examples of protected areas.

In North America, extinctions of animals like the Carolina parakeet and the passenger pigeon - and the near-extinction of the prairie buffalo - drove the creation of the first protected natural areas in the 1890s. As time went on, more and more biological diversity was lost, and more land was set aside to try to save scraps of habitat for wild animals and plants.

By 1982, the growing extinction crisis had reached the point that the United Nations passed the World Charter for Nature. For animals and plants, this charter is equivalent to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

The general principles of the United Nations World Charter for Nature begin as follows:

Nature shall be respected and its essential processes shall not be impaired.
The genetic viability on the Earth shall not be compromised; the population levels of all life forms, wild and domesticated, must be at least sufficient for their survival, and to this end necessary habitats shall be safeguarded.
All areas of the Earth, both land and sea, shall be subject to these principles of conservation; special protection shall be given to unique areas, to representative samples of all the different types of ecosystems and to the habitats of rare or endangered species.

At the famous Rio Earth Summit in 1992, most nations signed on to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity - a world agreement to try to heal our ailing planet.

In doing their part, the federal and provincial governments of Canada adopted the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy, making specific commitments to landscape based conservation targets. Both of these agreements require that protected areas be created and maintained.

The Canadian Biodiversity Strategy includes creating systems of protected areas that are adequate for the task at hand - to retain as much of the nation's living heritage as possible. The Protected Areas program in Nova Scotia is meant to fulfill our province's part of this national commitment.

The province of Nova Scotia currently lists 24 species under its new endangered species legislation, the latest being the mainland moose. There are more to come. Less than 9 per cent of Nova Scotia's land area currently lies within protected natural areas. This percentage must be increased in order to meet our obligations and to conserve native biodiversity.

There are "several classes of protected areas on public lands in Nova Scotia: national parks, wilderness areas, provincial parks, and special places (nature reserves). Each of these classes is governed by different laws. In addition, there are smaller land holdings owned by conservation organizations such as the Nova Scotia Nature Trust and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. These, too, are facilitated by laws.

In Nova Scotia, no one is excluded from any of these protected areas, although some specific activities are restricted. Mining is generally excluded, cutting trees is either banned or regulated, and vehicles are either prohibited or strictly controlled in various ways.

The main focus in all cases is ensuring that the well-being of animals and plants comes first. Provided their well-being is ensured, other human activities are permitted. In the province's protected wilderness areas, for example hiking, hunting and fishing is allowed.

The Canadian Biodiversity Strategy and Nova Scotia's protected areas plans are aimed at saving as much biological diversity as possible, while compromising human interests as little as possible. If no compromises are made, humans, too, will be caught in the vortex of extinction.

Unfortunately, a lot of god's creation has already been lost, and more is bound to go.

The science of biological conservation is well developed, with scientific papers published daily on the subject. Scientists know that all of the riches inherited from the past can't be saved.

There is strong scientific evidence that the existing protected areas in Nova Scotia will not be sufficient to protect Nova Scotia's natural heritage and endangered species, so calls for more protected areas are appropriate and will continue. Reactions against protection from industry and other interests are similarly inevitable. But it is clear that more needs to be done... or much more will be lost. Forever.