Water can be a battleground. From disputes over dwindling river flows to tensions over pollution and privatization, access to clean, abundant fresh water is no longer guaranteed. Yet in Canada, we often act as if it is. With some of the largest fresh water reserves in the world, we’ve long taken both their quality and quantity for granted. But as pressures mount — driven by climate change, industrial demands and competing interests — freshwater ecosystems and the species they support are increasingly at risk. These ecosystems sustain an extraordinary diversity of life, including 10 per cent of all known species on Earth. Their health is inseparable from our own, and the choices we make now will determine whether they remain a source of life — or conflict — in the years to come.
Despite this, a report earlier this year by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) indicated that 18 per cent of freshwater animals are now at risk of extinction. This has the potential to spell disaster for Canada, which is home to 20 per cent of the world’s fresh water, including seven per cent of renewable fresh water and 25 per cent of all wetlands.
Sadly, while this news is alarming, it is unfortunately not surprising. Research shows that for freshwater species in Canada, 12 per cent of plants and animals are at risk. This number is significantly higher for some groups, with 19 per cent of freshwater fish, 20 per cent of freshwater-dependent birds, and 36 per cent of freshwater amphibians and reptiles facing the threat of extinction. And this is only for those species where we have robust data. A lack of available information about many species, particularly in the North, could mean that the number of species at risk could be higher.
The threats to these vital ecosystems are extensive and growing as human disturbance to landscapes increases. Run-off from agriculture and mining, damming the rivers, climate change and the relentless spread of invasive species are putting more pressure on fresh water than ever before.
At WCS Canada, we are seeing these threats and their impacts play out in real time. In Ontario, in partnership with Moose Cree First Nation, our work focuses on lake sturgeon as an indicator of the wider health of the waters of the Moose Cree homeland, allowing us to understand the cumulative effects of climate change and development on freshwater ecosystems.
Sturgeon are long-lived, slow-growing and migratory, which puts them at risk from habitat changes, like dams and other water-flow alterations. Even in Canada, where we have more free-flowing rivers and sturgeon face less pressure than other areas globally, 67 per cent of sturgeon species are at risk.
In the Yukon, our team has also seen how climate change is impacting populations of salmon, representing a growing crisis for thousands of people living near rivers in the region. The Yukon River chinook and chum are hitting record lows, due in large part to the cumulative impacts of mining and climate change.
The diverse, growing nature of the cumulative threats facing fresh water requires an equally diversified approach to tackling the problem. For example, one important step is ensuring that the potential benefits of development projects are fully assessed against the full suite of negative impacts they could have upon surrounding ecosystems. Likewise, it’s critical that the handful of rivers in Canada that are completely free-flowing remain undammed, so refuges remain for freshwater wildlife, and we can collectively continue to benefit from the ecosystem services they provide.
It’s also critical that we look to the leadership of First Nations to inform conservation policy for fresh water and identify future protected areas to be considered as part of land-use planning in the face of a warming planet. Our lives are intimately connected to those of the flora and fauna that call these ecosystems home.
While the challenge facing these ecosystems is huge, it also represents an opportunity for Canada to demonstrate the proactive, forward-thinking leadership required to preserve the country’s two million lakes and over 8,500 rivers. If we do nothing, the continuing cycle of extraction, mineral exploration and pollution will leave us up the creek without a paddle. Instead, let's all grab a paddle and pull in the same direction.
Connie O’Connor is a freshwater ecologist and conservation biologist dedicated to finding conservation solutions for the globally important freshwater ecosystems of Canada’s boreal forests, and the people and the wildlife that rely on them.
Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle is a conservation planning biologist and co-director of the Northern Boreal Mountains Program based in Whitehorse, Yukon and an adjunct professor at the University of Saskatchewan.
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