Montreal

Canadian biologists and environmental groups are angry at what they claim are continued efforts by provincial and federal governments to politicize the process by which species are added to the endangered list. In particular, they are worried at moves to give representatives from private corporations direct involvement in the process.

Earlier this year, more than 600 scientists wrote to the prime minister, Jean Chrétien, demanding that the rights to identify and list endangered species be given exclusively to scientists, and that politicians should not be allowed to override such decisions.

Christine Stewart, then Canada's environment minister, responded by adding eight more scientists as voting members to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), which identifies the species that should be on the list (Nature 398, 9 & 358; 1999). The government had previously removed the voting rights of most non-governmental scientist members.

But a draft operating manual for the committee, leaked to The Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto, shows that, for the first time, members of private corporations would be allowed to sit on the committee.

Committee member Gilles Seutin of McGill University says that many members are concerned that the government is trying to dilute its decisions. And David Schindler of the University of Alberta, who drafted the earlier letter to the prime minister, says there is no place for non-scientists, politicians or industry representatives on COSEWIC. Schindler cites the possibility of a biologist working for a forestry company that might have an interest in not seeing a particular bird placed on the list.

According to the newspaper report, the leaked document also says that COSEWIC would no longer be able to release its endangered species list independently, but could only do so jointly with federal and provincial wildlife ministers, and the new Canadian Endangered Species Conservation Council.

Sarah Dover, director of the Canadian Endangered Species Campaign for the Canadian Nature Federation, says that, because the council is a political body, “there could be political interference”.

But David Brackett, director-general of the federal Canadian Wildlife Service, maintains that adding corporate representatives would not interfere with the committee's independence.