Eastern Habitat Joint Venture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eastern Habitat Joint Venture is a partnership established on November 15, 1989[1] between governments, organizations, and conservation groups in eastern Canada to protect and enhance wetlands important to migratory birds, under the auspices of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

The founding partners were the six easternmost provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island), the Canadian Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Wildlife Habitat Canada.[1] As a signatory, each province was expected to develop and implement its own program.[2]

[edit] Objectives

The initial goals of the plan at founding were to conserve approximately 1.8 million hectares of wetlands in the eastern provinces by 2004.[3] These wetlands are important to waterfowl and other migratory birds that use the Atlantic Flyway.[4]

[edit] Programs

Small-scale programs include the Small Marsh Program initiated by the government of Prince Edward Island, in which landowners of marshes with an area up to 10 acres may apply for restoration of those wetlands. Approximately twenty sites are restored annually, prioritized "according to their biological value". [5] The cost is borne by the program and its sponsors, and the landowners must sign an "agreement to maintain the restored wetland for a 25-year period".[5]

Prince Edward Island also operates a Wetland Stewardship Program within the scope of the Eastern Habitat Joint Venture. From 1991 to 2003, it protected 6,000 hectares of upland and wetland habitat in the province, [6] in which soil erosion is the most significant environmental issue.[6]

In Quebec, nearly half of all program funding from this project is devoted to the biosphere reserve of Lac Saint-Pierre and its environs, encompassing 3,500 hectares of nationally significant wetlands.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Eastern Habitat Joint Venture: Where have all the waterfowl gone?. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Environment and Conservation. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  2. ^ Eastern Habitat Joint Venture in Ontario. Environment Canada. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  3. ^ North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (EHJV) in Québec. WetKit. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  4. ^ Eastern Habitat Joint Venture. Environment Canada. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  5. ^ a b PEI Small Marsh Program (Eastern Habitat Joint Venture). Government of Prince Edward Island. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  6. ^ a b Prince Edward Island Eastern Habitat Joint Venture Wetland Stewardship Program. Wildlife Habitat Canada. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  7. ^ North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP): Status Report 1997-1998. Environment Canada. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.