Pathways to Protection

Walking along sandy banks of the Humber River as it winds towards Lake Ontario; following moose tracks through snow to discover a recently shed antler; reclining in soft moss against the sturdy trunk of an old-growth hemlock tree; watching a Blanding’s turtle slip gently into their home marsh and disappear — these are the kinds of encounters that chart our human relationships with nature and delineate our reliance on and responsibilities towards the land, waters and living beings with whom we share a common path.

Fostering connections with nature is the best part of conservation work, especially when shared with others. Often these experiences lead to the question: how do we protect these places we love and need?

This question was also at the heart of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15), held in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke last year where 196 countries and Indigenous leaders negotiated a framework for urgent action to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss — a crisis on par with climate change that threatens all life on Earth. ^1,2  While not perfect, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is a historic agreement that represents a common acknowledgement of the crisis, intentions to act, and a legend with which to interpret the terrain along the global path to make peace with nature.

Covering everything from reducing pesticide use to eliminating government subsidies that harm biodiversity, the 23 targets of the GBF include conserving at least 30 per cent of the world’s lands and waters by 2030 — often referred to as 30 by 30. ³ 

For Canada, 30 by 30 means more than doubling the amount of land and inland water in protected areas in seven years. What that looks like on the ground is the next enormous hurdle, requiring all parts of society to work for nature and people.

Several provinces recognized the significance of COP15 and announced new targets. B.C. and Quebec adopted 30 by 30 and pledged hundreds of millions to meet it. Nova Scotia pledged 20 per cent by 2030 and $20 million. ⁹  The federal government announced new funding and signalled a plan to implement the GBF, with laws to back it up. ¹⁰  Ontario can’t afford to remain on the sidelines of protection any longer.

Aprotected area is a clearly defined space dedicated and managed through legal or other effective means to achieve the long-term conservation of nature. ¹¹  The Ontario Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006 (PPCA) sets out the laws for protected lands to ensure nature conservation is prioritized and permanent. ¹² 

Another way to frame the question is protection from what?

Long-term conservation of nature requires excluding human activities that destroy or degrade ecosystems and biodiversity, such as industrial logging, mining, large hydro dams, road-building and urban development. Federal and provincial protected areas generally don’t allow these activities. ¹³ 

Ontario has several types of protected areas. Provincial parks and conservation reserves make up the largest share, followed by national parks, migratory bird sanctuaries, and privately protected areas such as land trusts. All of these add up to a mere 10.72 per cent of the land base, a far cry from the 30 per cent target. ¹⁴  To reach this target provincially, each additional per cent requires protecting over one million hectares of land.

Another protection type gaining traction is sites outside formal parks and reserves that are managed in a way that achieves long-term conservation. These are “other effective area-based conservation measures” or OECMs. They can have a range of objectives and governance, including Indigenous Peoples, local communities, the private sector and governments. An example is the Queen’s University Biological Station at Elbow Lake. The federal government recognized it as an OECM in 2020 for meeting the criteria of having defined boundaries, long-term, year-round protection and a managing authority, the university, with the ability to restrict activities that negatively impact biodiversity. ¹⁵ 

Identifying existing OECMs can help get to 30 by 30 and encourage land-management groups to meet the criteria of long-term conservation. We must ensure the quality of conservation is not sacrificed — the UN Convention on Biological Diversity clearly states a logging or mining company that merely mitigates impacts on biodiversity is not compatible with 30 by 30 and can not be considered an OECM. ¹⁶  In the rush to hit targets, protection must not be watered down.

What does it take to get a new protected area in Ontario? When it comes to Crown land, the complex process is led by the Ministry of Environment (MOE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).

Right now, we’re missing political will. Efforts to increase parks and reserves have been stagnant for a decade.

The public needs to hold the government to account to ensure opportunities for involvement in the development of what would be the first new park in 40 years.

To effectively curb biodiversity loss, proposed areas of protection must prioritize science, Indigenous knowledge and local input. But it’s often politicians who pick and choose from within a black box of power.

Lands managed by Indigenous Peoples contain 80 per cent of the world’s remaining biodiversity, despite making up only 20 per cent of territory. ²⁶  A crucial path to meeting the 30 by 30 goal lies in following Indigenous leadership. Respecting and upholding Indigenous rights to their lands and self-determination is also a road to reconciliation.

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One difficulty in establishing IPCAs is the proposed lands are often outside the boundaries of First Nation reserve lands, encompassing traditional territories under provincial jurisdiction. The federal government can provide funding to help Indigenous communities advance conservation projects or buy Crown land from provinces and territories. However, it can’t impose protection without their cooperation.

By all accounts, Ontario has been unwilling to support or even consider proposed IPCAs. The 2020 auditor general protection report found six requests to discuss IPCAs from First Nations had not been addressed by the MNR. ²⁹ 

Documents from Natural Resources Canada reveal provincial resistance to IPCAs and recognizing Indigenous jurisdiction. ³⁰ 

For Ontario to get serious about protection, it needs to start working with Indigenous communities to advance proposed IPCAs, beginning with a moratorium on approving new mining and logging claims in these areas.

Last year, a “conservation agreement” was negotiated between Canada and the province. It was decried by conservation organizations as utterly insufficient because it failed to add any mandatory new protection to known caribou critical habitat. ^35,36  Instead, the agreement endorsed continued logging, mining and road-building activities that cause the most damage to critical habitat, as allowed by Ontario’s laws and regulations. ³⁷ 

If Canada is truly committed to meeting its biodiversity commitments, it can intervene using the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). Under SARA the federal environment minister can recommend provinces protect critical habitat of threatened species. ³⁸  The minister has recently done so for Quebec after finding “almost all of the critical habitat of the [boreal] caribou located on non-federal land in Quebec is not effectively protected.” ³⁹  The same is needed in Ontario.

Moving from the vast boreal in the north to the deciduous forests and grasslands of the south, the province’s protection pressures shift. Southern Ontario is recognized as a nationally significant biodiversity hotspot, with an abundance of species supported by rare habitats such as tallgrass prairies, Carolinian forest and alvars, as well as unique landforms such as the Niagara Escarpment, Oak Ridges Moraine and Frontenac Axis. ^41,42 

But the region also has an abundance of threats. Three quarters of wetlands have been lost since the beginning of European settlement and those left are at risk from urban sprawl and gravel mining. ⁴³  At only nine per cent of the landbase, it’s home to 92 per cent of the population and only 0.6 percent of the land is protected. ⁴⁴ 

Most lands in southern Ontario are privately owned so options for growing protections differ. ⁴⁵  The Ministry of Environment needs to purchase or acquire lands through donation to create reserves under traditional means. Privately-owned land trusts are another option and many organizations work to advance their creation in key areas. ⁴⁶  But the government can also give greater authority to local conservation groups and municipalities to control activities in areas of “natural heritage” — places with relatively intact and functioning ecosystems. One such example is the 500 lands managed as conservation areas by the province’s 36 water-shed based conservation authorities (CAs). ⁴⁷  Several of these, in partnership with unicipalities, have achieved federally approved OECM status in the last year, demonstrating another pathway to protection. ^48,49,50 

Sadly, the Ontario government has been undermining and removing the ability and authority of CAs and municipalities to manage for protection and prevent incompatible development, through legislation such as the “More Homes Built Faster Act” (Bill 23). ⁵¹  It has also removed lands and waters from the Greenbelt, and raised the bar for wetlands to achieve “provincially significant” protected status. It is pushing to build new mega-highways through conservation areas, the Greenbelt and the Holland Marsh. All in all, the province is going to great lengths to undercut the pathways to protection in near-urban areas.

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change has also expressed concern about the removal of lands from Greenbelt protection, in particular those that could impact the Rouge National Urban Park in Scarborough. ⁵²  Will the federal government’s implementation plan for its 30 by 30 goal put pressure on Ontario to reverse course and prioritize protection? This remains to be seen. What is sure is it falls on all Ontarians to work together to fight back to protect the places we love. We need to hold the province’s feet to the fire if we want to see the protection needed to meet our commitments, and in turn, curb the biodiversity crisis and mitigate the impacts of climate change before it’s too late.

1. “UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15)” UN Environment Programme. 2022.  https://www.unep.org/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15 
2. “Tackling Biodiversity & Climate Crises Together and Their Combined Social Impacts.” Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Jun. 10, 2021.  https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2021/06/tackling-biodiversity-climate-crises-together-and-their-combined-social-impacts/ 
3. COP15: Nations Adopt Four Goals, 23 Targets for 2030 in Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement. Convention on Biological Diversity. Dec. 19, 2022.  https://www.cbd.int/article/cop15-cbd-press-release-final-19dec2022 
4. Winfield, Mark. “Ontario election: Doug Ford’s poor record on the environment and climate change.” The Conversation. May 3, 2022.  https://theconversation.com/ontario-election-doug-fords-poor-record-on-the-environment-and-climate-change-182021 
5. “State of Ontario’s protected areas.” Government of Ontario. 2021.  https://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/sopar/SOPAR_ProtectedAreasSummary.pdf 
6. McIntosh, Emma. ”Ontario is resisting Canada’s plans for Indigenous-led conservation areas.” The Narwhal. Aug. 18, 2022.  https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-resisting-indigenous-conservation-plans/ 
7. Jones, Ryan P. “Ford government forges ahead with Greenbelt development plan despite 'broad opposition' in public consultation.” CBC. Dec. 22, 2022.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/greenbelt-oak-ridges-moraine-regulations-1.6692337 
8. “Defend Nature, End The Extinction: Time to double Canada’s protected areas.” Nature Canada. Sep. 2019.  https://naturecanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/NatureCanada-Report-DefendNature-1.pdf ?
9. Logan, Cloe. “Provinces pour money into conservation efforts during COP15 biodiversity conference.” Canada’s National Observer. Dec. 13, 2022.  https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/12/13/news/provinces-pour-money-conservation-efforts-cop15-biodiversity-conference 
10. Banks, Brian. “The promise of COP15.” Canadian Geographic. Dec. 22, 2022.  https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/the-promise-of-cop15/ 
11. “Effective protected areas.” International Union for Conservation of Nature.  https://www.iucn.org/our-work/topic/effective-protected-areas#:~:text=A%20protected%20area%20is%20a,ecosystem%20services%20and%20cultural%20values .
12. “Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, c. 12.” Government of Ontario. Jan. 1, 2022.  https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/06p12 
13. “Value‑for‑Money Audit: Conserving the Natural Environment with Protected Areas.” Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. Nov. 2020.  https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/annualreports/arreports/en20/ENV_conservingthenaturalenvironment_en20.pdf 
14. “State of Ontario’s protected areas.” Ibid. 
15. “Queen's University Biological Station.” Queen’s University.  https://qubs.ca/home 
16. Woodley, Stephen et al. “Science briefs on targets, goals and monitoring in support of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework negotiations.” Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Jun. 2022.  https://geobon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/T3_brief.pdf 
17. “Value‑for‑Money Audit: Conserving the Natural Environment with Protected Areas.” Ibid. 
18. “Crown land.” Government of Ontario. May 20. 2021.  https://www.ontario.ca/page/crown-land 
19. “Ontario Working with Conservation Experts to Protect More Natural Areas.” Government of Ontario. Apr. 1, 2021.  https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/60977/ontario-working-with-conservation-experts-to-protect-more-natural-areas 
20. “2022 Ontario Budget: Ontario’s Plan to Build, Chapter 1c Section 6.” Government of Ontario. Apr. 28, 2022.  https://budget.ontario.ca/2022/chapter-1c.html#section-6
21. “Value‑for‑Money Audit: Conserving the Natural Environment with Protected Areas.” Ibid. 
22. McIntosh, Emma. “What does an old-growth forest look like in Ontario?.” The Narwhal. Mar. 8, 2022.  https://thenarwhal.ca/ontario-forests-old-growth/ 
23. “Your Protected Places: A shared vision for Ontario.” Ontario Nature. 2023.  https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/41eff1b612824398ac5d80b96db56f21
24. “Your Protected Places: A shared vision for Ontario.” Ibid. 
25. McIntosh, Emma. ”Ontario is resisting Canada’s plans for Indigenous-led conservation areas.”Ibid.
26. Recio, Eugenia and Dina Hestad. “Indigenous Peoples: Defending an Environment for All.” International Institute for Sustainable Development.” Apr. 22, 2022.  https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/indigenous-peoples-defending-environment-all 
27. “Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.” Indigenous Leadership Initiative.  https://www.ilinationhood.ca/indigenous-protected-and-conserved-areas 
28. “Canada Target 1 Challenge.” Government of Canada. May 4, 2021.  https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/nature-legacy/canada-target-one-challenge.html 
29. “Value‑for‑Money Audit: Conserving the Natural Environment with Protected Areas.” Ibid. 
30. McIntosh, Emma. ”Ontario is resisting Canada’s plans for Indigenous-led conservation areas.”Ibid.
31. Blaise, Kerrie. “Advancing Indigenous Rights Through Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.” Canadian Environmental Law Association. Jun. 2022.  https://cela.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Full_Report_and_Toolkit.pdf 
32. “Range Plan Guidance for Woodland Caribou, Boreal Population.” Government of Canada. 2016.  https://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/policies/Range_Plan_Guidance_EN.pdf 
33. “Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou): recovery strategy progress report 2012 to 2017.” Government of Canada. Oct. 31, 2017.  https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/recovery-strategies/woodland-caribou-report-2012-2017.html 
34. Ray, Justina. “At risk of extinction.” Canadian Geographic. Oct. 31, 2018.  https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/at-risk-of-extinction/ 
35. “Agreement for the Conservation of Caribou, Boreal Population in Ontario.” Government of Canada. Feb. 2, 2021.  https://species-registry.canada.ca/index-en.html#/documents/1412 
36. “Draft conservation agreement for Ontario caribou weakest in Canada, says environmental groups.” Ecojustice. Mar. 14, 2022.  https://ecojustice.ca/news/draft-conservation-agreement-for-ontario-caribou-weakest-in-canada-says-environmental-groups/ 
37. Beck, Lindsay and Joshua Ginsberg. “Re: Proposed Conservation Agreement for Boreal Caribou in Ontario.” Ecojustice. Mar. 1, 2022.  https://view.publitas.com/on-nature/conservation-agreement-letter-to-minister-guilbeault/page/1 
38. “Policy on Critical Habitat Protection on Non-federal Lands.” Government of Canada. 2016.  https://registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/policies/CH_Protection_NFL_EN.pdf 
39. Blais, Stéphane. “Steven Guilbeault calls for decree to protect caribou in Quebec.” Montreal Gazette. Feb. 6, 2023.  https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/steven-guilbeault-calls-for-decree-to-protect-caribou-in-quebec 
40. Kraus, Daniel and Andrea Hebb. “Southern Canada’s crisis ecoregions: identifying the most significant and threatened places for biodiversity conservation.” Biodiversity and Conservation. Aug. 27, 2020.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-020-02038-x 
41. “Value‑for‑Money Audit: Conserving the Natural Environment with Protected Areas.” Ibid. 
42. McIntosh, Emma. “Ontario’s smallest wetlands are unprotected — and disappearing.” The Narwhal. Sep. 8, 2022.  https://thenarwhal.ca/southern-ontario-wetlands-study/ 
43. “Value‑for‑Money Audit: Conserving the Natural Environment with Protected Areas.” Ibid. 
44. Ibid. 
45. “Invest in a Healthy Green Future.” Carolinian Forest.  https://caroliniancanada.ca/invest 
46. “Conservation Authorities.” Conservation Ontario.  https://ontarioconservationareas.ca/conservation-authorities/ 
47. “Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and partner Municipalities’ Lands Recognized Federally as Protected Areas.” Ontario Nature. Apr. 11, 2022.  https://ontarionature.org/news-release/trca-and-partners-protected-lands-recognized/ 
48. “Bowen’s Creek Habitat Management Area designated as Protected Area.” Ontario Nature. Mar. 21, 2022.  https://ontarionature.org/news-release/bowens-creek-designated-as-protected-area/ 
49. “Green Spaces in Kitchener Now Qualified as Protected Areas.” Ontario Nature. Apr. 12, 2022.  https://ontarionature.org/news-release/kitchener-protected-areas/ 
50. Bowman, Laura. “The Ford government is trying to sell off Ontario’s natural heritage.” Ecojustice. Nov. 24, 2022.  https://ecojustice.ca/news/the-ford-government-is-trying-to-sell-off-our-natural-heritage/ 
51. McGilivray, Kate. “Ottawa will carry out its own environmental assessment of Highway 413.” CBC. May 3, 2021.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/highway-413-ford-environment-minister-1.6011953 
52. McIntosh, Emma. “Federal government could intervene on Greenbelt development, Guilbeault warns Ontario.” The Narwhal. Jan. 26, 2023.  https://thenarwhal.ca/steven-guilbeault-ontario-greenbelt/