Chris Genovali, Executive Director

As Executive Director of Raincoast for over two decades, Chris Genovali leads Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s programs to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of coastal British Columbia. Chris received a Conservation Leadership Award in 2015 from the Wilburforce Foundation.

He is a prolific writer, with articles, op-eds and features on Canadian wildlife, habitat and forest conservation issues widely published in Canada and internationally, including the Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, Seattle PI and Guardian UK. He was a contributor to Animals and the Environment: Advocacy, activism, and the quest for common ground published in 2015, and Wild Foresting: Practicing Nature’s Wisdom published in 2008. Chris has also appeared as a spokesperson on various radio and television outlets such as CBC’s ‘As It Happens’, CBC ‘Newsworld’, US National Public Radio, Global TV, CTV, CKNW, BBC radio and Public Radio International. 

Chris Genovali on the deck of Achiever

A happy large black bear walks down the road.

B.C.’s human-wildlife conflict response needs reform

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Investigate & Inform
Recent events have raised important legal questions about the policies, practices, and procedures of the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) for responding to human-wildlife conflicts. This past summer was marked by multiple encounters involving people and black bears in the Lower Mainland, with accompanying BCCOS-related controversy as well. In a high-profile incident in Coquitlam,…
A Humpback whale fin is visible above the surface of the ocean.

Ecological legacy of coastal B.C. hangs in the balance

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Investigate & Inform
One hundred years ago, whaling largely extirpated humpback and fin whales from the inside waters of the B.C. coast. As the federal government looks to codify a 35-year moratorium on oil-tanker traffic into law, these whale populations are recovering and returning to their historic feeding grounds…
J16 spy hops: Southern Resident killer whale.

Canada’s recovery measures for endangered killer whales a positive step

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Backgrounders
A coalition of six conservation groups commend the federal government’s new measures to support Southern Resident killer whale recovery. The measures are the boldest yet; greater whale-watching restrictions, expanded voluntary slow downs for international shipping and the creation of no-vessel zones in feeding areas.  However, important feeding areas protected from fishing are smaller than last year’s areas, allowing less protection for whales and more areas for fishing…
A group of scientists and students converge after Christina Service's dissertation defence.

The future of applied conservation science is bright

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Conservation Updates
This has been a time of remarkable accomplishment for the Raincoast Applied Conservation Science Lab at the University of Victoria. The research that the lab produces is a dynamic mix of population analyses, biogeography, marine-terrestrial interactions and much more, all rooted in a ‘wildlife welfare’ ethic. Collaboration with Indigenous communities forms the hallmark of much of this work, which is being directly applied…
L121 and calf in the Salish Sea.

NEB recommends Trans Mountain proceed despite “significant adverse effects” to Southern Residents

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Investigate & Inform
The National Energy Board (NEB) has recommended that the Trans Mountain expansion project should proceed despite the “significant adverse effects” of oil tankers on the critically endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales. Although we disagree with the NEB’s conclusion, their review of the project effects on killer whales is forthright and portrays the severity of the current situation…