Species at Risk Act

The Species at Risk Act (French: Loi sur les espèces en péril, SARA) is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002.

SARA defines a method to determine the steps that need to be taken in order to help protect existing relatively healthy environments, as well as recover threatened habitats, although timing and implementation of recovery plans have limitations.

[2] It identifies ways in which governments, organizations, and individuals can work together to preserve species at risk and establishes penalties for failure to obey the law.

[4] If a species is listed as extirpated, endangered, or threatened, SARA requires that a Recovery Strategy[5] be prepared by the federal government, in consultation with the relevant provinces and territories, wildlife management boards, and Indigenous organizations.

[8] In July 2016, the Government of Canada issued an emergency order to stop the development of a 2 km2 area on the South Shore (Montreal), Quebec to protect the Western Chorus Frog, which by 2009 had seen a 90% decrease in its historical range.