&nbsp;<span>Oil and gas development alters habitat in some of the world&rsquo;s most biodiverse regions, and the ecological mechanisms&nbsp;</span><span>behind these impacts are now well described. Recent syntheses argue that the binding constraint on better outcomes is no longer e</span><span>cological knowledge but the translation of that knowledge into enforceable and durable protection. This claim has rarely been </span><span>tested with data. We combine a critical review of the literature through mid-2026 with four original analyses of openly published </span><span>datasets. First, using 1,169 listing and recovery documents for 608 Canadian species at risk (CAN-SAR database), we find that </span><span>oil and gas drilling is identified as a threat for 18.9% of species (95% CI 15.7&ndash;22.5%), rising to 41.5% for mammals and </span><span>33.3% for birds. Recognition depends strongly on assessment protocol: reports that used the standardized IUCN-CMP threats </span><span>calculator were 4.6 times more likely to record the threat (95% CI 2.3&ndash;9.1), which fully explains its apparent rise over time. </span><span>The severity of this threat was scored as unknown less often (13.0%) than for other threats (17.8%). Second, only 5 of 313 </span><span>recovery strategies (1.6%) met the statutory deadline, and strategies for oil-and-gas-exposed species were more than twice as </span><span>likely to leave critical habitat unidentified (35.5% versus 18.2%; odds ratio 2.48, 95% CI 1.34&ndash;4.56), a difference explained </span><span>largely by the wide-ranging vertebrates that dominate this group. Third, propagating the national boreal caribou demography </span><span>model shows that the expected growth rate falls below replacement at about 8.5% anthropogenic disturbance when fire is </span><span>negligible, and that the probability of a stable or growing population at the policy benchmark of 35% disturbance is about 0.14. </span><span>Fourth, the U.S. protections governing three indicator species changed direction at least once between 2023 and 2026, with </span><span>federal listings lasting 2.1&ndash;2.4 years. Together these results show that knowledge of oil and gas threats is adequate for action, </span><span>and that losses accumulate in the steps that follow: planning, threshold setting, and the durability of protection. We close with </span><span>recommendations aimed at each of these steps.</span>&nbsp;