Ottawa – At the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), Canada, along with 195 other countries, adopted the historic Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. The Framework aims to safeguard the world’s nature, halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, and put nature on a path to recovery by 2050.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, launched consultations with Canadians on the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy for Canada. Canadians are being asked to provide their thoughts on biodiversity priorities and are encouraged to take part in engagement efforts that will take place over the coming months.
Although countries are only expected to submit their implementation plans for the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP16 in 2024, Canada is leading the way as one of the first to develop and implement its domestic strategy.
Minister Guilbeault also hosted a National Biodiversity Symposium to further engage Canadians in the development of Canada’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy. The Symposium will feature active engagement with different levels of government, representatives of Indigenous groups, key stakeholders from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, academia, women, youth, and local communities to discuss Canada’s path forward on protecting and conserving biodiversity.
The launch of these consultations comes ahead of the federal-provincial-territorial meeting of environment ministers later in May, where Minister Guilbeault will reiterate his call to provinces and territories to join the federal government in publicly supporting ambitious goals to protect nature and biodiversity with continuing contributions from within their own jurisdictions.
As a large and biodiversity-rich country, Canada is driving global action through historic investments and ambition in international negotiations. The Government of Canada launched the largest campaign in Canadian history to conserve nature, backed by over $5 billion in investments, with a goal of protecting 30 percent of land and water by 2030, in full partnership with Indigenous peoples. The Government is making steady progress, having protected over 300,000 square kilometers of land since 2015, which is around half the size of Manitoba, and gone from 1 percent to 14 percent of our oceans protected. However, more progress is needed to stop biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems.
“Building off the momentum of hosting COP15 in Montréal last December, we are inviting Canadians to join in and speak up to help shape our domestic strategy for implementation of the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. Through this discussion, we want to bring forward the full diversity of Canadian perspectives so that we can build an ambitious and inclusive strategy. Nature cannot wait for us. We need to act now.” – Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change