Canada Announces C$3.8B Conservation Strategy for 30% Target

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 3.8 billion Canadian dollar strategy on Tuesday to expand the country's protected lands and waters, aiming to meet a national commitment to conserve 30 percent of its territory by 2030. The plan, unveiled at an event in Wakefield, Quebec, includes funding for new national parks, urban parks and marine conservation areas, building on pledges made at the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference.

The initiative, titled A Force of Nature: Canada's Strategy to Protect Nature, seeks to nearly double terrestrial protection from 14 percent to 30 percent and marine conservation from over 15 percent to 28 percent by the target year. Officials said it will safeguard at least 1.6 million square kilometers of land and up to 700,000 square kilometers of ocean over the next four years. Carney described the approach as ambitious, emphasizing significant federal investment alongside efforts to attract private-sector funding. The strategy focuses on three pillars: protecting habitats, aligning economic development with conservation and incorporating nature's value into decision-making through natural capital accounting.