Environmental watchdog to speak in Peterborough

Ontario’s environmental commissioner will be in the city Thursday to talk about the province’s protected land shortfall.

Dianne Saxe is Ontario’s watchdog over environmental, energy and climate performance.

She’ll be speaking at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Saxe will talk about the commitment Canada made to the Convention on Biological Diversity, a major international treaty to protect at least 10 per cent of its marine and coastal areas and 17 per cent of its land by 2020.

The commissioner will touch on her 2017 Environmental Protection Report, Good Choices, Bad Choices during the event.

In the report, Saxe pointed out that only 10.7 per cent of Ontario’s is currently protected, yet the province doesn’t have a place to meet the 17 per cent target.

Saxe says Ontario must undertake a frank assessment of the currently status of the protected areas system, identify key opportunities for expansion and make a public commitment to achieving and exceeding the conservation target, according to Kawartha Land Trust (KLT).

KLT, which is hosting the event, is a non-governmental charitable organization is dedicated to managing and acquiring land to maintain and conserve the unique and natural heritage of the Kawarthas.

The talk is free to the public and takes place in TASS’s auditorium.

Registration is required and can be done online at www.kawarthalandtrust.org