Question Period Note: Canada's Nature Legacy: Canada Nature Fund

Canada's Nature Legacy: Canada Nature Fund

• Canadians love nature, and the Government is committed to conserving it.

• That’s why the Government of Canada announced, through Budget 2018, the single-largest investment in nature conservation in Canadian history: $1.35 billion over five years for Canada’s Nature Legacy initiative.

• This initiative will double the amount of nature protected in Canada’s lands and oceans and enable work with others to create healthier habitats for species at risk.

• The initiative includes the establishment of the new Canada Nature Fund—a federal contribution of $500 million to support concrete actions to conserve and protect 17 percent of Canada’s land and fresh water, by 2020, and protect species at risk.

• The Government is investing and working in partnership with other governments and Indigenous Peoples, and progress is being made. Since 2017, land equivalent to the size of Great Britain has been protected and conserved in Canada.

The Nature Legacy Initiative will help connect a network of protected and conserved areas across the country; transform the implementation of the Species at Risk Act by shifting to ecosystem-based, multi-species approaches; enable meaningful engagement of Indigenous peoples to build distinction-based relationships and advance reconciliation through actions taken to conserve spaces and species; and, establish a new Canada Nature Fund.

The Canada Nature Fund has been designed to motivate and support the efforts of Canadians whose participation is critical to achieving success in nature conservation. It will make it possible to establish protected and conserved areas, secure private land, and support terrestrial- and aquatic-species protection efforts by provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, and stakeholders.
The Canada Nature Fund will provide federal funding of $500 million over five years. Through leveraged partnership support from foundations, provinces, territories, the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, and others, it is anticipated that at least another $500 million will be raised for conservation action.

A variety of partners are eligible for funding: provinces and territories, Indigenous organizations, communities, and environmental groups. Funds may be allocated directly, to support federal priorities, or through a call for proposals or application-based process, potentially with philanthropic foundations and other funding partners.

The Canada Nature Fund will have two streams: Spaces and Species. Co-benefits between the two streams will be sought, as will co-benefits for climate change and Indigenous reconciliation. Currently, 61 First Nations, Inuit and Metis guardians programs have been approved for funding under the Indigenous Guardians Pilot Program, which represents an investment of more than $19.8 M over 4 years in support of Indigenous stewardship of traditional lands, waters and ice.

The Spaces stream will provide almost $300 million over five years toward increasing the protected and conserved areas in Canada, their connectivity, and their ecological integrity to contribute to Canada’s Biodiversity Target 1. There are three components to the Spaces Stream – Quick Start, Target 1 Challenge and the Natural Heritage Conservation Program (NHCP).

The Quick Start component provided funding to advance nearly ready projects and support capacity to help build momentum towards achieving Canada’s Target 1 commitments. The Minister approved 38 projects that received a total of $14 million in funding under this component. These projects contributed 163,000 hectares towards Canada’s Target 1, which resulted in the expansion to 24 established protected and conserved areas and 4 new protected and conserved areas.

The Minister approved a total of 68 projects under the Target 1 Challenge component with 42 projects that will contribute to Canada’s Target 1 objectives, including 26 projects that will result in Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. These projects are projected to contribute 34.6 million hectares, 3.5% of Canada’s terrestrial and inland waters, towards Canada’s Target 1 by 2023. An additional 26 projects received conservation capacity funding. These projects have a strong potential to contribute to Canada’s Target 1 but are not in the position to secure new hectares for protection by 2023. The funding for these projects will support advancement of discussions with partners, and build internal capacity.

The NHCP component is a national program, which is administered by a third-party, that will establish new protected and conserved areas by working with delivery partners across Canada to secure private lands and private interests in lands. The Government of Canada is investing $100 million over four years for NHCP. The Minister announced in April 2019 that the Nature Conservancy of Canada will administer and deliver this program. NHCP will protect and conserve at least 200,000 hectares of habitat for species at risk.
The Species stream will provide over $200 million over five years toward the protection and recovery of terrestrial species at risk—managed by Environment and Climate Change Canada—and aquatic species at risk—managed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada—through a shift to ecosystem-based, multi-species approaches. This funding will contribute to the protection and recovery of priority species—such as caribou and some migratory fish—the protection of priority areas, and mitigate risks to species at risk associated with priority sectors—such as forestry, agriculture, and urban development.
Canada recently announced that, this year, the federal government is investing up to $7.6 million in 52 projects across the country to advance conservation action in priority places. In each community, multiple partners will take action together to protect and recover species at risk. These projects will complement ongoing species at risk conservation in 11 priority places already identified by federal, provincial, and territorial governments. The Pan-Canadian Approach to Transforming Species at Risk Conservation in Canada was also approved. The Government will establish a set of joint priority places, species, and threats, and initiate or continue implementation of actions by Fall 2018.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office