The Honourable Jim Prentice Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9G U

Minister of the Environment Telephone 020-3353 2000

Les Terrasses de la Chaudière guardian.co.uk
10 Wellington Street,
28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0H3

October 5, 2010

Dear Minister of the Environment,

I am writing on behalf of the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom and our readers
worldwide to ask you to consider a proposal for protecting Canada's biodiversity.

The action has been proposed by our online readers and developed by professional scientists. It
is based by scientific evidence.

We believe it will both protect an important species and habitat and send a clear signal to the
negotiations at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP10 in Nagoya later this month
that the decisive, concrete actions can and must be taken to halt the alarming decline in global
biodiversity.

Our campaign, Biodiversity 100, has identified 26 achievable actions in a number of countries
and has the support of the international scientific community. We are sharing our proposals with
journalists around the world, who will be able to measure the success of their national and local
governments in implementing the actions we have put forward. For more details of the
campaign please go to guardian.co.uk/biodiversity100.

The specific proposal we request that you consider is to Implement measures to protect boreal
woodland caribou.

We kindly request you to react publicly to our recommendation, both through national media
and through your statements to the CBD COP10 plenary. We also urge you to consider
including our proposed action when you revise your National Biodiversity Strategy and Action
Plan after COP10.

As a major international media outlet with a global audience, the Guardian takes seriously its
responsibility to report on the planet’s biodiversity crisis. We would be very keen to hear back
from you about your country’s efforts to protect the natural environment and, especially, to hear
of your reaction to our proposal.
Yours Sincerely,

Alan Rusbridger
Editor-in-Chief
The Guardian
CC: Ms. Nancy S. Hamzawi, Acting Executive Director, Ecosystem & Biodiversity Priorities

Woodland caribou
Action: Implement measures to protect boreal woodland caribou

Description: Boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are a biodiversity indicator
for the entire boreal forest, which is essential to help sequester carbon, regulate climate and for
biodiversity. Currently at least half of the caribou’s range has been impacted by human activities
that fragment their forest habitat, and this makes them easy prey for wolves and bears. They are
already a “threatened” species under federal law. By far the single biggest danger to boreal
woodland caribou is unregulated and uncoordinated oil, gas and tar sand development in
western Canada, including the Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and North-West
territories. Only a fraction of caribou critical habitat is currently fully protected from industrial
activity, but scientists recommend that caribou need large, healthy, intact and interconnected
forests to survive. Federal government support is needed to build on an agreement with the
Canadian forest industry to protect an area the size of Germany. Restrictions should also be put
on oil and gas development including extraction of tar sands in areas critical to the species.

Evidence: A report last year from Environment Canada, drawing on the work of over 30
independent caribou scientists, outlined the importance of protecting large tracts of boreal
forest critical for the survival of woodland caribou – approximately six million hectares.

For the full version of this text with links to scientific papers, please visit the Biodiversity 100 site:
guardian.co.uk/biodiversity100