Trudeau, Biden seem alike on conservation

Plenty of opportunities for joint action plans, writes Graham Saul.

A single Monarch butterfly hovers at the edge of Lake Erie, only water on the horizon, as though summoning the courage for the incredible journey south from Canada through the United States, all the way to the mountains of central Mexico.

The monarch is waiting for a breeze to lift off from Point Pelee, the southernmost inhabited tip of Canada. This magical place is a launch pad every fall for many of the millions of monarchs who make the epic 3,000-kilometre flight from Canada, aided by air currents along several flyways for migratory birds that merge in Texas for the final leg to Mexico.

The fields of goldenrod and the forest where the monarchs cluster before takeoff, disguised as leaves in the trees, are a vital way-station on the monarch migration highway across North America. There are no borders for the great migrations every year of butterflies and whooping cranes, leatherback turtles, Arctic tern, caribou, humpback whales, and other species among the great streams of life that flow in the air, the waters and along the land across the continent.

Much of the movement goes unseen by humans since most Canadians live in urban areas, though even in cities we get glimpses — caterpillars morphing in our gardens, the sudden honking of V-shaped squadrons of geese escaping before the snow flies.

Nature may conjure more poetry than policy. There is a chance for harmony, though, in the immense scope for political cooperation between Canada and the United States — cooperation to protect North America's great land and seascapes, whose ecosystems of life flow across borders like massive corridors.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made the most significant conservation commitment in Canadian history. He now has an ally in U.S. president-elect Joe Biden, who has made significant campaign commitments to goals shared by Canada for conservation and species protection.

Trudeau promised to conserve 25 per cent of land and ocean when he was elected. Recently, he pledged Canada to the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People.

The coalition includes more than 30 countries committed to conserve 30 per cent of land and ocean by 2030.

Biden has pledged to issue an executive order on Day One of his administration to conserve 30 per cent of America's lands by 2030 to reverse biodiversity loss, slow species extinction rates, and provide nature-based solutions to climate change.

A door to cross-border collaboration on conservation of North America's vast, essential nature corridors has opened. It's an opportunity for Trudeau and Biden to combine forces and prioritize joint Canada-u. S. action plans to protect these natural pathways.

Leaders who make a political effort on ecological corridors shared by Canada and the United States can count on the support of determined and dedicated partners on both sides of the border.

Hikers, community level naturalist networks, national environmental organizations, Indigenous communities, ranchers and farmers, scientists, researchers, and others, have been building the road maps for international conservation cooperation for years.

Groups are collaborating, for example, in the Algonquin to Adirondacks area, from Ontario through the state of New York, to protect forest and wetlands considered the best remaining potential for wildlife movement across the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence system.

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative works to protect the mountain range habitat connecting five American states, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwest Territories. The Great Plains Grassland ecosystem from southern Canada to Mexico is a globally significant swath of the planet's most threatened ecosystem, including the Central Flyway for migratory birds.

Restoring fragmented and degraded trails and pathways will create jobs, connect neighbours, help at-risk species revive and healthy species thrive.

President-elect Biden is also committed to working with tribal governments and Congress to protect sacred sites and public lands, along with waters with high conservation and cultural values. This creates important possibilities for collaboration given Canada's experience in establishing Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and guardian programs.

President-elect Biden's campaign promise to permanently protect the Arctic Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas exploration bodes well for the at-risk Porcupine caribou herd that traverses the Northwest Territories and Yukon to calving grounds in Alaska.

It is one of the longest migrations on Earth. Protecting caribou habitat would benefit the entire ecosystem.

This is the moment to encourage collaboration by leaders on both sides of the border, just as we might cheer the monarch on its way south.