Prime Minister Harper addresses UN Conference on the Convention on Biological Diversity

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Dignitaries from around the world, dear colleagues, dear friends, I would first like to thank Chancellor Merkel for hosting this 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and for inviting me to say a few opening remarks today.

Protecting biodiversity is one of the paramount environmental challenges facing the world today.  I'm very pleased to learn of the constructive spirit of the work and the cooperation among delegations at the conference. I congratulate you on the progress that has been achieved that Minister Gabriel talked about.  It bodes extremely well for the important work still to be done and for progress between now and 2010 for all the very important reasons that the previous speakers have enumerated.

Today I'd like to talk to you about Canada's rich natural heritage and what we are doing to protect and preserve it.

To give you a fuller understanding of the breadth of our biological resources, the photographic collage reflective of Canada's biodiversity will appear on the screen as I speak. It will give you some idea, at least in the case of Canada, of the importance of what we are aiming to protect, and of course, I can assure you that it will be more interesting than just watching me talk.

Canada occupies the second-largest land mass of any country in the world. We are home to over 100,000 species of plants and animals.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic, our breathtaking natural scenery is recognized worldwide.

The spectacular rain forests of the West Coast are perhaps best known to Europeans but in fact 46 per cent, nearly half of our country, is carpeted with vast forests and woodlands. Our soft, fertile prairies stretch to the horizon in all directions and the tough granite mantel known as the Canadian Shield is pitted with pristine lakes and etched with roiling rivers. In fact, it is the largest reservoir of freshwater in the world.

Canadians are very proud of this country. It is our inheritance from nature.  Indeed, our national identity is largely defined by our relationship with our land.

It inspires our poets and artists and guides our social and economic development. For a millennium, it has nourished the rich cultures of Canada's aboriginal peoples, and it has provided boundless opportunities to immigrants from around the world ever since Samuel de Champlain established the first permanent European settlement at Quebec City, exactly 400 years ago.

As the heirs of this natural endowment, we understand that it is merely on loan, passed on to us from previous generations, to safeguard for the generations yet to come.

Canada has gone to great lengths to protect and preserve our rich and diverse environment.  In our country, this is not just a government enterprise. We are partnered with many private individuals, corporations and non-governmental organizations dedicated to environmental philanthropy.

Last year, for example, we entered into a partnership with a private, non-profit organization called The Nature Conservancy of Canada.  Its goal is to acquire and conserve more than 200,000 hectares of ecologically sensitive lands across Southern Canada, many close to developed and developing urban areas. After only one year, it has acquired some 70 properties and in the process has resulted in the protection of over 50 species at risk.

Canada is working hard to build and expand its network of protected areas.  Today, over 10 per cent of Canada's land mass, an area greater than the size of France and Germany combined, and three million hectares of ocean waters have been protected by federal, provincial and territorial governments.

These large protected areas include famous national parks like Banff, Fundy, Gros Morne, and Nahanni, of which our Government announced a significant expansion last summer.

In 1992, Canada became the first industrialized nation to ratify the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and of course, the great city of Montreal is the world headquarters for the Secretariat.

However, despite the best efforts of the signatories to the Convention, as has been mentioned, we are still losing wildlife species at an alarming rate. We must do more if we are to achieve our 2010 objectives of a significant reduction of the rate of worldwide biodiversity loss.

To meet the challenge at home, our Government has undertaken numerous conservation initiatives. These include the establishment of the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, the world's largest freshwater protected area, working with the local aboriginal community to establish a huge new national park on Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories, investing in more than 1,000 projects to protect habitat under our Habitat Stewardship Program, and providing funding for the 13 UNESCO-designated biosphere reserves in Canada.

In addition to those national efforts, we are seeking to protect biodiversity at the international level. Canadian scientists and experts are helping developing countries use their biological resources in a sustainable manner. Canada initiated the International Model Forest Network, now involving almost 50 forests in 20 countries. We are a major donor to the Global Environmental Facility, which devotes a large percentage of its portfolio to biodiversity projects.

While I am under no illusion that global biodiversity loss can be stopped overnight, I hope this Convention will be able to achieve the objectives set for 2010. One source of that hope is the growing global awareness of the need to fight against climate change.

Canada's Arctic is particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming, which is already threatening the region's biodiversity.  I made a point of visiting our Far North six times since becoming Prime Minister. At Alert, the most northerly human habitation on earth, I dipped my toe into the Arctic Ocean. I've seen with my own eyes what a vast, magnificent and unspoiled treasure we hold in trust for future generations.

Protecting our Northern environment and our sovereignty in the Arctic is one of our Government's top priorities.

That's why we have made the development of a comprehensive regulatory plan to fight against climate change one of the highest priorities of our Government. We have vowed to get past the empty rhetoric and to take real action to require Canadian industry to make real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to conclude with a quotation by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner.

Stegner evoked the beauty and tranquillity of the Canadian Prairies in a way that in my opinion has never been surpassed.  In 1960, long before environmentalism became a galvanizing public issue, Stegner urged us to conserve and protect biodiversity in a famous tract called his "Wilderness Letter." Let me quote from it.

He said: "We need wilderness preserved--as much of it as is still left and as many kinds--because it was the challenge against which our character was formed."

Ladies and gentlemen, the preservation of our wilderness today and into the future is the challenge against which our character will be measured.

Thank you very much.

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