Canada is off track to protect 25% of land & water by 2025 AND 30% by 2030. “Protected & conserved areas are a cornerstone of our efforts to stop biodiversity loss & build climate resilience. There's great urgency for CA to recommit & invest further in our lands & waters.” —@jamessnider.bsky.social
James Snider
@jamessnider.bsky.social
Carbon, climate and biodiversity. Conservation, science, policy & politics. Canadian 🇨🇦. VP - Science, Knowledge & Innovation at WWF-Canada.
Earlier this week, I joined CP24 to discuss the findings of Living Planet Report Canada and what’s needed for wildlife conservation in Canada. m.youtube.com/watch?v=SuOQ...
52% of species are decreasing in abundance, World Wildlife Fund report says
YouTube video by CP24
m.youtube.com
“Following five decades of persistent declines in wildlife populations, now is not the time to walk back protections for wildlife & habitats. Rather, Canada has a growing responsibility to scale up efforts to restore, protect & steward what remains of species’ habitats.” – @jamessnider.bsky.social
🚨 BREAKING: All major groups of wildlife in Canada are in decline #LPRC2025: Across 910 species of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles & amphibians, wildlife populations in Canada have declined by 10%, on average, since 1970. BUT not all is lost. Together, we can help nature heal & wildlife recover.
Wetlands are disappearing and with them, vital lifelines for migratory species. 🦆 @ramsar.org's new #GlobalWetlandOutlook2025 reveals we could lose 1 in 5 wetlands by 2050. 🐆 Discover why protecting wetlands is essential for the future of migratory species & our planet: www.cms.int/en/news/migr...
Area burned in Canada for 2025 is now at 5.6 M ha exceeding the total for the entire 2024 fire season. This fire season is not as bad as 2023 that had 9.37 M ha burned by July 12, 2023. However, 2025 is a very active year with 365 fires out of control and 2 months still left in the fire season.
‘Sheila just went for it’: York University scientist Sheila Colla remembered as a fierce advocate to save wild bees
‘Sheila just went for it’: York University scientist Sheila Colla remembered as a fierce advocate to save wild bees
Colla, 43, died Sunday of cancer. She successfully fought for the rusty-patched bumblebee to become the first bee listed as an endangered species in Canada and the U.S.
thestar.com
The Premiers of Ontario and Alberta are calling for the utter destruction of Canada's existing climate action plan: repeal Impact Assessment (c-69), industrial carbon price (GGPPA), O&G emissions cap, clean electricity regs & parts of Species at Risk Act (plus clean water for FNs legislation).
Under Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to speed up development in the country's "national interest", projects will get the green light before they are reviewed, writes Anna Johnston www.nationalobserver.com/2025/07/02/o...
Bill C-5 is not just bad policy, it’s a constitutional mess
Under Prime Minister Mark Carney's plan to speed up development in the country's "national interest", projects will get the green light before they are reviewed.
nationalobserver.com
For all you Canadian parliamentary nerds - debate on the third reading of Bill C-5 has just begun. You can watch the live stream right here The first speech this morning is from the bill's sponsor, Senator Hassan Yussuff. #cdnpoli #SenCa #SenateofCanada
Senate sitting no. 16
Senate sitting no. 16
senparlvu.parl.gc.ca
What's at stake with Bill 5? 🤔 "Our data shows that without action, Ontario is on the path to losing iconic species such as the Eastern wolf, American badger & barn owl... The hopeful news is that we also know how to reverse the path we’re on." — WWF-Canada's Emily Giles Read the op-ed here. ⬇️
Giles: Ontario must not dismantle protection for endangered wildlife
Bill 5 would scrap the province’s landmark Endangered Species Act — at a time when we are increasingly concerned about our natural world.
ottawacitizen.com
"All attempts to fast-track to the Ring of Fire will fail" "Ontario is trying to legislate us out of the conversation. That won’t work” "If you pass Bill 5, you can say goodbye nature" First Nations demand the Ontario gov't revoke Bill 5. It's the most powerful stand off I've seen at Queens Park
First Nations promise "a long and very unnecessary fight" over Ontario government's attempt to accelerate Ring of Fire development and limit endangered species protections under Bill 5. VIA @fatimabsyed.bsky.social: thenarwhal.ca/ontario-bill...
"Companies are coming and promising prosperity. I don't believe in it because I'm still suffering from your prosperity... We have to stop this bill." Michael Koostachin, Friends of the Attiwapiskat River, explains what is on the line with Ontario's Bill 5. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKGc...
Bill 5 Address at Queen's Park - Standing Committee on the Interior (May 26, 2025)
YouTube video by Legal Advocates For Nature's Defence
youtube.com
With so much talk of speeding up processes and approvals for development, it's pretty timely that this draft environmental assessment came out on a proposed road to the Ring of Fire. There's a reason it took so long to produce: it contains A LOT of critical information: thenarwhal.ca/ontario-ring...
Ring of Fire road report highlights impacts to Ontario First Nation | The Narwhal
Environmental impacts and hundreds of recommendations outlined in report on northern Ontario road project, as Doug Ford government pushes to speed up Ring of Fire mining
thenarwhal.ca
“The headline message is, this is a globally significant area. The amount of carbon here is vast. From a conservation perspective, it reaffirms the importance of special management & stewardship activities." — WWF-Canada's @jamessnider.bsky.social on the importance of the Hudson James Bay Lowlands
Recent research from a multi-year collaboration between the Mushkegowuk Council, McMaster University and @wwfcanada.org further underlines the globally significant carbon storage in the Hudson James Bay Lowlands: www.timminstoday.com/local-news/n...
Recent research from a multi-year collaboration between the Mushkegowuk Council, McMaster University and @wwfcanada.org further underlines the globally significant carbon storage in the Hudson James Bay Lowlands: www.timminstoday.com/local-news/n...
New study reveals massive carbon stores in Hudson and James Bay peatlands
'The headline message is, this is a globally significant area,' says James Snider
timminstoday.com
Hearings for Ontario’s Bill 5 - which includes systematic weakening of environmental protections, including for Species at Risk, and raises considerable concerns on consultation with Indigenous Peoples — are underway now. Live stream is here: www.ola.org/en/legislati...
Committees (room 151) | Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Watch a live stream of committees from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
ola.org
🚨 Ontario’s latest attack on environmental safeguards could drive endangered species to extinction. 🚨 Bill 5, which would scrap the Endangered Species Act, sidelines science & oversight to hand power to politicians & developers, putting 270+ endangered species & their habitats at even more risk.
"This is not streamlining — it’s steamrolling," said Laura Bowman, lawyer at Ecojustice. "Doug Ford and his government are putting profit over people and ecosystems, plain and simple." (From a press release that just landed in my inbox.)
Just in time for the long weekend: Ontario announces intent to repeal Endangered Species Act and replace it with new Species Conservation Act: ero.ontario.ca/notice/025-0...
Just in time for the long weekend: Ontario announces intent to repeal Endangered Species Act and replace it with new Species Conservation Act: ero.ontario.ca/notice/025-0...
Proposed interim changes to the Endangered Species Act, 2007 and a proposal for the Species Conservation Act, 2025 | Environmental Registry of Ontario
The current approach to the protection and conservation of species at risk is complicated, takes too long to complete, and causes unnecessary delays and costs for housing, transit, and critical infras...
ero.ontario.ca
Record greenhouse gas levels helped bring temperatures to an all-time high in 2024, accelerating glacier and sea ice loss, raising sea levels and edging the world closer to a key warming threshold, @wmo-global.bsky.social said in its annual #climate report. www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/clim...
Record 2024 temperatures accelerate ice loss, sea level rise: UN weather body - The Weather Network
Annual average mean temperatures stood at 1.55 degrees Celsius (2.79 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels last year, surpassing the previous 2023 record by 0.1 C, the World Meteorological Organizat...
theweathernetwork.com
If you've ever said "that journalist interviewed me for half an hour and quoted just one sentence," or "that journalist interviewed my academic archnemesis in an article about my work," or "why is the headline of the article about my work so bad," you need to read this. 🧪
Here's part two of my series with @brettfavaro.bsky.social on tips for speaking to journalists as a scientist, this week focusing on things every scientist should know about how interviews work (and do not work). Please read and share! www.southernfriedscience.com/advice-for-t... 🧪#SciComm
Looking for a postdoc in 🇨🇦? Liber Ero Fellowship liberero.ca * Applied conservation science * Leadership training * Open to int’l applicants * Due Nov 1 🌎🧪🦤
Liber Ero Fellowship Program
liberero.ca
The Trump administration is planning to cancel its lease at a government laboratory in Hawaii, a site where scientists support key observations of surging greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, according to a list obtained by Democratic members of Congress and shared with The Post.
Trump moves to close facility that helps track planet-warming pollution
The lab is connected to the Mauna Loa Observatory, where scientists gather data to produce the Keeling Curve, a chart on the daily status of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
washingtonpost.com
“Today marks the most disastrous day in #EPA history. Rolling these rules back is not just a disgrace, it’s a threat to all of us. The agency has fully abdicated its mission to protect Americans’ health and wellbeing." 🌎
Trump officials to reconsider whether greenhouse gases cause harm amid climate rollbacks
Activists horrified as EPA reverses pollution laws and reviews landmark finding that gases harm public health
theguardian.com
For the first time in human history -- not just in recorded history, but in the 3+ million year existence of modern humans -- carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has just breached 430 parts per million. We are in a climate emergency.
“This will be the starting point for that big change that we see happening in our communities. To make big changes, we need to make sure that we have sustainable access to lands and waters that are healthy.” — Stephanie Thorassie, executive director of the Seal River Watershed Alliance
Protected Seal River conservation area moves closer to reality
Federal, provincial and Indigenous leaders will pursue formal designation for Canada’s largest Indigenous-led protected area after a year-long assessment found conserving northern Manitoba’s Seal Rive...
winnipegfreepress.com
🌱✨ Big news — we're excited to award 60 #WWFGoWild Grants to schools and campuses across Canada! 🦋🐝 With these grants, students and educators will be rolling up their sleeves to create and restore wildlife habitats — from pollinator gardens to native plant seed orchards! 🌿🏫
The Trump administration has begun firing employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world’s premier centers for climate science.
Mass Layoffs Begin at NOAA
The cuts came just before a separate wave of departures was expected under the Trump administration’s so-called deferred resignation program.
nytimes.com
The U.S. has two tsunami warning centers, both operated by NOAA. Employees were terminated from these centers today. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center covers Hawaiʻi, and now it is less safe to be near the beach. www.tsunami.gov