The Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was developed by a consortium of Saskatchewan government departments in order to ensure the maintenance of a healthy biodiversity within the province. These agencies, ranging from Environment through Agriculture, Highways, and Industry and Resources, recognize the importance of acting to preserve and enhance biodiversity at all levels: genetic diversity within species, which is only possible with healthy sizes of populations; species diversity, or the number and variety of types of organisms; and ecosystem diversity, or the variety of habitats in which organisms live. Loss of diversity at any level decreases the health of the world in which humans live. The goals of the plan for the government are: to conserve biodiversity and biological resources in a sustainable manner; to improve our understanding of ecosystems and increase our resource management; to promote an understanding of the need to conserve biodiversity and use biological resources in a sustainable manner; to develop a set of initiatives and legislation supporting the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of biological resources; and to co-operate with other jurisdictions (international, federal, provincial, municipal, and First Nations as well as Métis people) having policy responsibility and/or program interests to conserve biodiversity and use biological resources in a sustainable manner. These goals require research to catalogue and monitor biological diversity, development of educational plans to inform the community of the needs for biodiversity, and negotiation with the various agencies and groups to promote the goals.
Diane Secoy