Here’s some last minute infor­ma­tion on a pub­lic forum on bio­di­ver­sity off­set­ting in the Nia­gara region (Canada). The pub­lic forum will be a vehi­cle for cit­i­zens to voice their opin­ion and ask ques­tions relat­ing to offsetting.

Date: Wednes­day, Jan­u­ary 27, 2015

Time: 6:30 pm (local time)

Loca­tion: Balls Falls Con­ser­va­tion Area, (a 20 minute drive from Brock University)

Fee: -

Read more below or see the related arti­cle and face­book invi­ta­tion.

Infor­ma­tion on the pub­lic forum

The need for a col­lec­tion of voices is at an ulti­mate high with an increas­ing envi­ron­men­tal con­cern exist­ing in Nia­gara. There has been an immense amount of pres­sure going on by man­age­ment to give up large amounts old land, and build houses, malls and infra­struc­ture in its place. This results in the promise of “bio­di­ver­sity offsetting”.

Bio­di­ver­sity off­set­ting is quite lit­er­ally devel­op­ers com­ing in and tak­ing down a cer­tain acre of old, impor­tant, and com­plex land, and off­set­ting the acres; fully com­pen­sat­ing for the land else­where. Eco­nomic devel­op­ment is the pri­or­ity for the devel­op­ers, while the land, swamps, forests, etc, that they build upon can never be truly and real­is­ti­cally dupli­cated. The land made as a result of bio­di­ver­sity off­set­ting can­not hold the same value, same life or same his­tory as pre­vi­ous land.

The Nia­gara escarp­ment holds a diverse and impres­sive amount of ecosys­tems from conifer swamps, caves, cliffs, streams, and oak savan­nahs. The escarp­ments hold life-cycles of birds, mam­mals, rep­tiles, amphib­ians, fish, native plans, and insects, some of which are at risk due to events like offsetting.

Ed Smith, a con­cerned Nia­gara res­i­dent, is pas­sion­ate about the detri­men­tal effects of bio­di­ver­sity offsetting.

“We need to cre­ate a cry,” said Smith, in hopes that the fight against bio­di­ver­sity off­set­ting is taken seri­ously be cit­i­zens and Ombuds­men — who have recently been appointed man­date over munic­i­pal­ity con­cerns along with their provin­cial power. Ombuds­men then become respon­si­ble for the impact of choices on Nia­gara citizens.