Montreal Portrait Photographer
Photo: Selena Phillips-Boyle / The Narwhal

COP15 is Canada’s chance to set the agenda on the global biodiversity crisis

With a rapidly changing climate and a biodiversity crisis, progress cannot come fast enough. Canada can urge the world to move towards a sustainable, nature-positive future together

Steven Guilbeault is the federal minister of environment and climate change.

Canadians are nature-loving people. Many of us have found some deep connection with a natural space in this vast and beautiful country. We make that connection close to home through walks in the woods, a stroll along a riverbank or a visit to a tide pool. Some of us go further to seek out Canada’s awe-inspiring mountains, waterfalls and old-growth trees or paddle our lakes and coastlines.

Growing up in a small town in northern Quebec, the forest was my backyard and playground. I realized my own life mission as an environmental activist, when at the age of five, I climbed a tree to protect my backyard forest from developers.

Nature is core to Canadians’ identity — what we are known for around the world and a source of national pride.

But nature everywhere is under siege. This month, the Living Planet Report 2022 from the World Wildlife Fund catalogued how global wildlife populations have declined by 69 per cent since 1970, including 20 per cent in North America.

Investigating problems. Exploring solutions
The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for a weekly dose of independent journalism.
Investigating problems. Exploring solutions
The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for a weekly dose of independent journalism.

According to the federal Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development, Canada not only has the world’s longest coastline, we also boast 25 per cent of the world’s boreal forest, 25 per cent of the world’s temperate forests, 25 per cent of the world’s wetlands, two million lakes and the third-largest area of glaciers on the planet.

So it is fitting that this December, Canada will host the largest United Nations biodiversity conference in a generation to tackle the serious challenges facing the natural world. Our mission is guided by progress, protection and partnership.

The 15th annual Convention of Parties (COP15) will see thousands of foreign delegates from 196 countries gathering in Montreal to make new commitments on the protection of nature and species at risk worldwide.

Temperate rainforests, such as B.C.’s Goat River valley, store carbon and shelter a myriad species at risk of extinction. Photo: Taylor Roades / The Narwhal

Progress cannot come fast enough. A million species are at risk of extinction. Natural ecosystems are disappearing, threatening freshwater supplies and the climate. Protecting nature and reducing emissions to fight climate change are interconnected. The call to protect nature must receive the same attention as does the climate. 

At home, we’re driving progress to reach our commitment of protecting 30 per cent of our land and 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030. It’s ambitious, but when you look at what we’ve already done on oceans — going from less than one per cent protected in 2015 when we took office to over 14 per cent today — I know we can make it happen. To get there, we have launched the greatest conservation campaign in the country’s history, fueled by multi-billion dollar investments available to the provinces and territories.

We’re also going to be stepping up our ambition on the protection of key, iconic species that are important to our ecosystems, to our communities and to who we are as Canadians. We know caribou protections can wait no longer. We’re reintroducing plains bisons to Banff National Park. As we come up to the international conference in Montreal, we’ll have lots more to say. 

And finally, we’ll continue to do all of our work in partnership with Indigenous communities, walking this shared path together. Indigenous Peoples must be partners from the outset, both at home and internationally — something that was not always the case in the past.

Canada has ambitious goals for the conference, just as we do domestically.

First, is to get all countries to commit to halting and reversing the loss of nature to make the world nature positive by 2030.

Second, to get commitments to conserve 30 per cent of the world’s lands and oceans by 2030, which scientific research shows is the minimum necessary to address the biodiversity and climate crises. The largest geographic countries, which harbor vast natural landscapes essential to regulating our climate and the home to many species, are vital in this effort.

Third, we need to mobilize resources to achieve this from the government, the private sector,  philanthropy and multilateral institutions. 

These three goals can only be realized if everyone around the world joins us.

Nature knows no boundaries — not local, not provincial or territorial and not international. We are all in this together.

The Montreal conference is Canada’s chance to show the world we can and will do our part from coast-to-coast-to-coast and to urge the world to join us in protecting nature for a truly sustainable future.

From Nova Scotia’s smallest honeybee to the mighty B.C. red pine, nature is part of who we are. It’s under threat. 

Let’s save nature so it can save us. 

Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?
Like a kid in a candy store
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political. Just like that, our small team was again leading the charge on a pretty big story

In an oil-rich province like Alberta, that kind of reporting is crucial. But look at our investigative work on TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline to the west, or our Greenbelt reporting out in Ontario. They all highlight one thing: those with power over our shared natural world don’t want you to know how — or why — they call the shots. And we try to disrupt that.

Our journalism is powered by people just like you. We never take corporate ad dollars, or put this public-interest information behind a paywall. Will you join the pod of Narwhals that make a difference by helping us uncover some of the most important stories of our time?

A dizzying bird’s-eye view of Manitoba’s hydro-electricity dams

Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter. The landscape is the stuff of legend....

Continue reading

Recent Posts

Our newsletter subscribers are the first to find out when we break a big story. Sign up for free →
An illustration, in yellow, of a computer, with an open envelope inside it with letter reading 'Breaking news.'
Your access to our journalism is free — always. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for investigative reporting on the natural world in Canada you won’t find anywhere else.
'This is not a paywall' text illustration, in the black-and-white style of an album warning label
Your access to our journalism is free — always. Sign up for our weekly newsletter for investigative reporting on the natural world in Canada you won’t find anywhere else.
'This is not a paywall' text illustration, in the black-and-white style of an album warning label