Over the past few decades, the areas inhabited by the few thousand High Arctic walruses and the more numerous Central and Low Arctic population have shrunk and continue to do so. As the climate warms and sea ice recedes, interaction with industry and tourism is increasing. These threats, layered upon ongoing harvesting, led the committee to recommend a status of Special Concern for both populations.
Graham Forbes, co-chair of COSEWIC's Terrestrial Mammals Subcommittee, stressed the sensitivity of caribou to human activity, a condition complicated by rapid northern climate change: "Shrubs increasingly cover landscapes that were once dominated by lichen, caribou's major winter food source, and overharvest continues. We are worried that these factors may make it very hard for herds to recover."
Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board Chair, Frank Thomas, highlighted the need to coordinate efforts toward this goal: "Local communities, through the work of management boards, play an important role in the conservation of Canada's northern biodiversity. We all need to work together."
Eric Taylor, Chair of COSEWIC, echoed Mr. Thomas' call to action: "Canada's biodiversity is at risk from coast to coast to coast, and timely action on many fronts is required, from dealing with habitat disturbance and overharvesting to concerted efforts to combat the effects of climate change."
- Ord's Kangaroo Rat (neither a kangaroo nor a rat), a rare Prairie dune specialist
- Some populations of Lake Sturgeon, a large, very long-lived species affected by historical overfishing
- Butternut, a tree in eastern provinces devastated by a fungal disease.
- Harris's Sparrow, a northern songbird breeding only in Canada and showing ongoing declines largely due to pressures on their wintering grounds in the US
- Shortfin Mako, an open-ocean shark found seasonally in Atlantic Canadian waters and showing signs of recovery from overfishing.
- Wildlife Species: A species, subspecies, variety, or geographically or genetically distinct population of animal, plant or other organism, other than a bacterium or virus, that is wild by nature and is either native to Canada or has extended its range into Canada without human intervention and has been present in Canada for at least 50 years.
- Extinct(X): A wildlife species that no longer exists.
- Extirpated(XT): A wildlife species that no longer exists in the wild in Canada , but exists elsewhere.
- Endangered(E): A wildlife species facing imminent extirpation or extinction.
- Threatened(T): A wildlife species that is likely to become Endangered if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction.
- Special Concern(SC): A wildlife species that may become Threatened or Endangered because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.
- Not at Risk(NAR): A wildlife species that has been evaluated and found to be not at risk of extinction given the current circumstances.
- Data Deficient(DD): A category that applies when the available information is insufficient (a) to resolve a wildlife species' eligibility for assessment or (b) to permit an assessment of the wildlife species' risk of extinction.
- Species at Risk: A wildlife species that has been assessed as Extirpated, Endangered, Threatened or Special Concern.
