The Habitat and Species Annex focuses on native species of plants and animals, and their habitats. Pictured above, the Monarch butterfly and purple coneflower are native to the Great Lakes prairie ecosystem. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“… contribute to the achievement of the General and Specific Objectives of this Agreement by conserving, protecting, maintaining, restoring and enhancing the resilience of native species and their habitat, as well as by supporting essential ecosystem services.”
Key Commitments
The United States and Canada agree to:
Conduct a baseline survey of the existing habitat against which to establish a Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem target of net habitat gain and measure future progress;
Within two years, complete the development and begin implementation of lakewide habitat and species protection and restoration conservation strategies;
Assess gaps in current binational and domestic programs and initiatives to conserve, protect, maintain, restore and enhance native species and habitat as a first step toward the development of a binational framework for prioritizing activities;
Facilitate binational collaborative actions to reduce the loss of native species and habitat, recover populations of native species at risk, and restore degraded habitat;
Renew and strengthen binational collaborative actions to conserve, protect, maintain, restore and enhance native species and habitat;
Increase awareness of native species and habitat and the methods to protect, conserve, maintain, restore and enhance their resilience; and
Conduct research and monitoring as needed to implement prevention measures that consider the impacts of climate change and other stressors and improve the resilience of native species and habitat.
