Happy May! In addition to getting the Ontario KBA program up and running (stay tuned for an upcoming kick-off meeting for interested collaborators), another focus is on completing the BC KBA program. Thanks to continuing crucial support from the Sitka Foundation, we are hiring a new KBA coordinator for British Columbia to identify remaining sites in the province. We want to extend a warm thank you to Riley Pollom, who has led the KBA work in BC until now, and has moved to the Indianapolis Zoo to coordinate a marine component of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission. In the meantime, Maria Leung is working with BC Nature, Birds Canada and the BC IBA Committee to coordinate the reassessment of existing IBAs to include other taxa and ecosystems. This is an important step because Birds Canada is in the process of assessing all existing IBAs across Canada using KBA criteria, and we’re working together to resolve the boundaries of any overlapping sites. A challenging and interesting task.
Jaime Grimm is a KBA program research associate, which doesn’t begin to describe the role she plays for the initiative. Jaime is an integral team member of the Canadian KBA Secretariat, responsible for tracking KBAs in progress across the country, and shepherding them through the various stages of development, review and submission. An aquatic ecologist by training, Jaime’s strengths include science communication, research, and rapid skill development. In addition to supporting the work of our various regional coordinators, Jaime has led the development of a number of new KBAs, particularly in regions where sites have been identified but where we don’t yet have a regional coordinator in place. She is also responsible for communication and outreach for KBA Canada, coordinating newsletters, blogs and the monthly webinar series. She has developed a very useful video that explains the technical process of identifying and delineating a KBA, found here. Jaime will be starting a PhD in September, to continue contributing to the science around cumulative effects of anthropogenic stressors on aquatic ecosystems and to further her interest in developing our ability to manage biodiversity and sea- and land-use decisions in sustainable and just ways.
Title: A roadmap for businesses operating in Key Biodiversity Areas
Date and time May 19th at 12-1pm EDT
Description:
Giulia Carbone, Deputy Director, Global Business and Biodiversity Programme at IUCN, will present a roadmap for businesses operating in and around Key Biodiversity Areas, some of the most biologically significant places on the planet. The report, Guidelines on Business and KBAs: Managing Risk to Biodiversity outlines steps that businesses can take to actively safeguard biodiversity and avoid contributing to its loss. It recommends businesses of all sizes and across all sectors to adopt 15 guidelines to better manage their direct, indirect and cumulative impacts on KBAs. It addresses issues such as avoidance of impacts, limits to biodiversity offsets, as well as financial guarantees and corporate reporting. It guides businesses in managing the potential losses and other risks associated with their negative impact on biodiversity, including potential impacts on access to financing and increased company exposure to negative press.
Giulia will explain how the Guidelines can help businesses demonstrate good environmental practice and compliance with voluntary sustainability standards or certification schemes, and how companies operating in KBAs can make a positive contribution to biodiversity by investing in conservation actions and sharing relevant information about the KBAs, including data collected in Environmental Impact Assessments, baseline studies and monitoring activities, with the KBA Partners. She will also discuss how they can assist governments in authorisation decisions related to business operations.
Title: Key Biodiversity Areas in Canada: Updates and Progress
Date and time: June 9th at 12-2pm EDT
Description:
This special webinar will explore all aspects of work completed over the last two years to identify and delineate Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) in Canada and will present plans for the next two years. Updates will include progress after two years, how the work is being conducted, who’s involved and how the initiative is governed and managed. The webinar will include a number of short presentations from the perspectives of governments, NGOs and scientists that have been involved in the KBA initiative. More details on the presentations to come.
Everyone is welcome!
The recordings for all past webinars can be found on our website.
As always, please get in touch if you have questions or if you want to learn more.
Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne
Canada Key Biodiversity Areas Coordinator / Coordonnatrice Zones Clés pour la Biodiversité
