WWF-Canada is calling for a new model for creating protected areas to meet international commitments on the countdown to COP15. Canadian Business Journal

TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As world leaders converge today at the United Nations General Assembly to secure ambitious goals for negotiations on climate and biodiversity this fall, a report from WWF Canada , outlines the need for a new model of protected areas in Canada — one that protects the right areas, the right ways, for the right reasons.

To help Canada meet its international commitments to reduce carbon emissions and reverse biodiversity loss, future protected area networks will provide habitats for wildlife and store and sequester carbon. should act as a natural-based climate solution. Past approaches to establishing protected areas have focused on securing areas on the map, without consideration of how they stack up into larger, more viable networks. Neither did it prioritize rights and ownership. WWF Canada’s beyond the target The report explores how this approach can add ecological representation (size, connectivity, performance, quality, etc.).

Creating new reserves in Canada will promote indigenous rights and tenure, as well as address four factors: location of endangered species, reserve connectivity, climate resilience, and carbon stocks. must be considered.

After identifying gaps in the current network of protected areas, WWF Canada’s new analysis assesses these four factors and, if protected, offer effective nature-based climate solutions and contributes to global biodiversity. identified high conservation value areas across Canada that will help meet our climate and climate commitments. The results of the analysis (shown on the attached map) are presented along with her interviews with four Indigenous conservation leaders who share their expertise working to protect key sites across the country. The combination of ‘Western’ science and indigenous knowledge is critical if we are to achieve national and international goals in an ethical and rights-driven manner.

Important points:

• As international governments move toward a post-2020 global biodiversity framework aimed at reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, protected areas will become a key link to national and international biodiversity. It will play an increasingly important role in meeting both climate goals.
• Fewer natural areas remain in the South (state) due to the high current and historical human footprints. This means that conservation must be accompanied by the restoration of degraded or destroyed landscapes.
• The north (the area of ​​this assessment) has a large swath of unprotected natural area that offers opportunities for further community-led conservation.
• Protected area networks need to be rethought for maximum positive impact on biodiversity, climate, indigenous rights and governance structures.

Quote:

“Protected areas can reverse biodiversity loss by protecting critical habitats, reduce carbon emissions by storing carbon in nature, and support indigenous protected areas and protected areas. We now know that we can advance Indigenous rights and property rights, none These things happen without a holistic, coordinated, rights-driven plan. If we want to meet international commitments against biodiversity loss and climate change, we need new approaches that prioritize protecting the right places in the right ways. ” – James Snider, Vice President, Science, Knowledge and Innovation, WWF Canada

“Indigenous Peoples Protected and Protected Areas (IPCAs) are our only hope. If Canada wants to achieve reconciliation, it needs to involve Indigenous Peoples if it wants to achieve its commitment to safeguarding sexuality, whether it is land reconciliation, financial reconciliation or cultural reconciliation. Indigenous peoples need to be involved in reclaiming a piece of land, be it a knowledge settlement.” – Steven Nita, Utzel Ke Dene First Nation

next step

Establishing protected areas in Canada cannot continue with a “business as usual” approach. The dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change require new protected areas to address both simultaneously, and our responsibility to advance reconciliation to prioritize indigenous rights and property rights. To do. This is why we need a new model.

A new model should:

• Consider connectivity, ecological representation, climate protection, carbon storage, and indigenous rights and tenure while incorporating strategies for long-term management and stewardship.
• Prioritize Indigenous Peoples Protection and Conservation Areas (IPCA). Non-IPCAs must be jointly developed and implemented with the consent of Indigenous peoples, recognizing territorial and property rights, and incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems, leadership and management responsibilities.
• Establish and define emission reduction targets for protected areas and include them in the Government of Canada’s Natural Determination Contribution (NDC).
• Create new financial tools that account for the establishment, management and long-term management of protected areas so that they can deliver long-term benefits to biodiversity and climate for centuries to come.
• Develop new legislative tools to advance the IPCA where current tools for establishing protected areas are limited, as identified by the Indigenous Experts Circle during the pathway process to Target 1. If an indigenous people unilaterally declares self-determination and autonomy, the Crown government must approve and support her IPCA.

About World Wildlife Fund Canada
WWF Canada is committed to equitable and effective conservation that restores nature, halts wildlife loss and combats climate change. We use scientific analysis and indigenous guidance to link all our efforts to her one goal: a future in which wildlife, nature and people thrive. For more information, visit wwf.ca.

Please contact us for more information or to arrange an interview. [email protected]

• Building protected area networks for biodiversity and climate

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