Posted at 8:00 am
Mathieu Perreault The press
Environmental organizations called for four bumblebee species to be included in the endangered species list as early as 2018. In 2020, a court ruled that was impossible because California’s Endangered Species Act doesn’t cover insects — only birds, reptiles, mammals, and fish.
the snail
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Monadenia setosa
A new judgment provides that bumblebees can be classified in the category of fish. In the 1980s, a land snail (Monadenia setosa) was protected by including it in a fish category that had already been extended to include marine invertebrates.
If a terrestrial mollusk can be considered a fish, it can also be an insect, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit of California reasoned.
bumblebees
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Bombus occidenalis
Of the four species newly protected in California (Bombus suckleyi, Bombus franklini, Bombus occidentalis and Bombus crotchii), two live in Canada and are also considered threatened there. The most sensitive is the western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis), whose range is only a few hundred kilometers. He was last seen in Oregon in 2006.
Food companies that have challenged the protections of these four bumblebees have announced they will appeal the case to the California Supreme Court. “We will certainly use this precedent to protect other insects, especially the monarch butterfly,” says Deborah Seiler of environmental NGO Xerces.
Textualists and Intentionalists
According to Lawrence Solum, a constitutional scholar at the University of Virginia, the ruling is an example of a broader legal debate in the United States. “We have spoken a great deal about the Supreme Court originalists or textualists, who reject any interpretation of the Constitution beyond the words there,” explains Mr. Solum. The debate between the textualists and the intentionalists, who hold that the constitution is “alive” and that one must exegete the intentions of its authors, is at the heart of the Roe v. wade [consacrant le droit à l’avortement]. But it is also happening at the national level. »
California is one of the states with the strongest intentionalist tradition.
Lawrence Solum, constitutional lawyer from the University of Virginia
“Nationally, it peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. For 40 years, textualist interpretation has become increasingly important at the national level and in the states,” asserts Lawrence Solum.
change the law
Changing the Constitution is difficult, so interpreting the intentions of its drafters is crucial. But in California, Democrats control Congress and can easily introduce or strengthen environmental legislation.
Wouldn’t it be easier to include insects in the Species Protection Act? “Intentionalists would be more inclined to say that if you want to limit the scope of a law, you have to do it purposefully,” Mr. Solum replies.
Dams and fisheries in Quebec
In Canada, classifying bumblebees as fish is not necessary to protect them, according to Anne-Sophie Doré of the Quebec Center for Environmental Law. She sees a parallel in the use of the Federal Fisheries Act to protect lake species that are not fished commercially.
Me Doré spoke to La Presse about a recent ruling in a lawsuit filed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada against the Quebec government that modified a dam on Lac Polette on the north shore and caused lake levels to drop.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s there was a greater commitment by Fisheries and Oceans to protect the fish in the lakes, but under the Harper administration we had reverted to simply protecting commercial species, particularly at sea.
Hugo Tremblay, environmental law specialist from the University of Montreal
“That means if we’re repairing a dam on a lake, it’s imperative that we notify the fisheries and oceans in addition to the provincial environment ministry. »
Also, Benoît Pelletier, a constitutional expert at the University of Ottawa, believes that the fall of Lac Polette seems to signify increased federal intervention in environmental issues, as we can see with the example of the forest caribou. In the past, “with dams, fisheries and seas, it was expected that the provincial authorities would protect the environment”.
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40% proportion of the world’s pollinating insects that are likely to disappear
Source: Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services