Toronto, Ontario - It’s in our nature to conserve our land and water, protect our wildlife, and save the places we love. But the world’s nature is in decline, with wilderness disappearing at a rapid rate and wildlife populations falling by 60 percent since 1970. That’s why Canada is taking action, including by making the single-largest investment in nature conservation in Canadian history, through Budget 2018, and by aiming to double the amount of protected nature in Canada’s lands and oceans.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced that the Nature Conservancy of Canada will lead the administration and delivery of a new $100 million, four-year national program (pending a final funding agreement) that will help protect more of Canada’s nature.
The Natural Heritage Conservation Program will be delivered by the Nature Conservancy of Canada and its partners, including Ducks Unlimited Canada, Wildlife Habitat Canada, and the Canadian Land Trusts Working Committee. The program will assist local, provincial, and national conservation land trusts in securing land from private landowners, as well as in securing private interests (e.g. forest tenures) on land to establish new protected and conserved areas.
The new program will establish at least 200,000 hectares of newly protected land and fresh water, especially in southern Canada, where nature and wildlife face the greatest pressures and where the majority of land is privately owned. The program will also contribute directly to reaching Canada’s goal of doubling the amount of nature protected in our lands and oceans.
For every dollar of federal funding, the Nature Conservancy of Canada and its delivery partners will match a minimum of two dollars of funding from non-federal sources, including donations of lands.
The announcement comes as Canada is set to host an international summit with nature champions from around the world, on April 24 to 25, in Montréal, to ramp up collaboration and increase ambition for protecting the world’s nature.
Source : Government of Canada