WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?

DMM DEPARTMENT

MB Enterprises

INVESTING IN ECOSYSTEMS- THE SUSTAINABLE RENEWAL OF THE CANADIAN ECONOMY

The sustainable renewal of the Canadian economy has huge dependencies on how effectively can the Govt. of Canada make fruitful investments in the Ecosystem. According to a sustainability report from The World Economic forum’s most recent Global risk report, the Top five threats for the survival are environmental. As an example we can mention the 2013 southern Alberta floods which caused $2billion in insurable losses.

This is simply a demonstration to the amount of losses that occur when during the city planning the natural ecosystem is not taken into consideration. Yet another disaster happened in the same year, a major flood in the city of Toronto resulted in an insured property damage of approximately $850 million. The two disasters are one of the costliest in the Canadian history.

Some more realistic research includes from The Canadian Food Inspection Agency. According to the estimates the annual impact of invasive species on the Great Lakes and the agriculture and forestry sectors accounts to $30 billion per year. Furthermore, regards to Forestry, The Canadian forest Services estimates that the Emerald Ash Borer invasion will result a huge cost of $ 2 billion in tree damage. This also includes the removal and replacement over the next 30 years.

An Ecosystem is part of the ecology of a certain country or defined area and includes all the living organisms and species including plants, trees and other living things. However, in a more sophisticated way, we can say that it is defined as the interactions between the living organisms and the non-living components in a particular area.

A variety of the types of natural ecosystems found in Canada are forests, wetlands, grasslands, tundra lakes, rivers and the coastal and marine systems. This is after the transformations from the humans that these natural ecosystems have been modified according to the needs. The transformation or the modifications of these ecosystem is into urban centers and agricultural lands. Therefore, the care of these transformed ecosystem is the sole responsibility of the Govt. and environmental agencies in Canada.

FORESTS & WETLANDS CANADA- A KEY PART OF THE ECOSYSTEM:

While we discuss further the ecosystem in Canada, we must know that the forests in Canada covers a huge land of the whole area of Canada, i.e. 40% of the area. These are huge figures for a country that is massive in area, 2nd only to Russia in forest percentage to area, and total covered area. This area is a huge 347 million hectares and accounts for approximately 9% of the total World’s forests. Forests are a great source of natural resources as they provide food, timber, medicines and other less obvious services. These services that are claimed to be less obvious includes carbon sequestration, climate regulation and water filtration. The wetlands in Canada also play huge part in their ecosystem known formally as ecology. It covers over approximately 150 million hectares in Canada or 15% of Canada and a huge quarter i.e. 25% of the World’s Wetlands. Doesn’t seem huge in writing but the fact is a quarter is a huge amount if compared to the rest of the World’s Wetlands. These are essential resources for water filtration, water flows, and obviously flood control. Flood control and water flows are a major part of the environmental sustainability aspects in Canada that needs higher amounts of annual investments.

ECOSYSTEM AT RISK IN CANADA & DAMAGE CONTROL MEASURES:

The risks associated in Canada to the eco-system are huge as the impacts associated with the risks can be heavy. The Canadians, however, may not be aware of the amount of risks their eco-system are facing. These risks includes the loss of fish and the animals to hunt. Also, includes the flowering plants that helps in delivering functions for the pollinators as well as many of our crops. Therefore, reducing the huge amount of risks and impacts that are faced by our ecosystem is highly critical. This is so that the citizens keep enjoying the goods and services provided in the ecology. Other major resources from the Ecosystem at risk are the Wet lands. The role of the Wet lands is huge in flood and erosion control, therefore it’s necessary to invest in sustainability projects for the Wet lands. They also play a major part in pest management, groundwater recharge and retention, pollution abatement and the key maintenance of biodiversity. They are also key recreational assets that are used in Canada for bird watching and waterfowl hunting. The losses needs to be controlled as it would lead to huge costs for the region. These costs are in terms of damage and maintenance due to flooding. Other key investments that needs doing are for the sake of damage control measures when flooding are expected.