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CMNS 349 Paper Proposal: Biodiversity Legislation in British Columbia: Challenging

Discourses of Climate Delay During the Covid-19 Crisis

Ana Arozarena

Department of Communication, Simon Fraser University

CMNS 349: Environment, Media and Communication

Dr. Svitlana Matviyenko

February 22nd, 2021

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Biodiversity Legislation in British Columbia: Challenging Discourses of Climate Delay in

During the Covid-19 Crisis

British Columbia currently lacks a comprehensive law to protect endangered and at risk

species. This is despite a provincial government mandate to enact such legislation back in

2017, in response to decades of pressure from the scientific community, environmental

organizations, and even members of the legislative assembly. Four years later, despite

continued warnings against the irreversible consequences of biodiversity loss by the scientific

community and the public, the legislation is still officially listed as “in development”. Centering

itself on the proposed endangered species legislation, this paper proposes to identify not only

how the government has employed discourses of climate delay (such as policy perfectionism),

but also how the events of the Covid-19 pandemic allow us to challenge the rationale of these

discourses. In this context, discourses of climate delay are defined as strategies which justify

inaction or downplay the need for urgency in regards to climate change action. (Lamb, 2020.) To

test the hypothesis that the provincial response to the Covid-19 pandemic proves that

discourses of climate delay are merely delay tactics to avoid addressing climate change with

actionable policy, this work will analyse the digital media surrounding the delay of the legislation.

Further, by building on the existing literature which calls on the implementation of a biodiversity

law in British Columbia, this paper will determine recommendations on strategies to challenge

governmental climate action delay, and emphasize the urgency of protecting biodiversity during

a global health crisis.

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