$50M in federal funding announced for B.C. conservation projects

The federal government has announced about $89 million in funding for 10 projects across Canada, $50 million of which is earmarked for B.C., that involve acquiring land for protection and restoration.

At a news conference in West Vancouver on Thursday, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the projects will promote biodiversity and help ecosystems suck up planet-warming carbon emissions.

"Nature is our greatest ally," he said. "Nature enriches our lives in countless ways: clean air, fresh water, medicines and providing ecosystems that protect our communities from the impacts of extreme weather."

As of now, the money will help conservation groups secure 6,847 hectares across Canada for six projects. The feds will also help fund four other projects, but the amount of land they will cover has yet to be determined. 

In an interview with CBC News, Nature Canada policy director Akaash Maharaj said these projects are a small step toward Canada's commitment to protect 30 per cent of lands and waters in Canada by 2030.

"Today's announcements are welcome, and these are exactly the kinds of announcements the government should be pursuing," he said. "It will need to accelerate those commitments."

Projects across Canada

About $50 million will go to the Nuxalk Nation, the B.C. Parks Foundation and the Nature Trust of B.C. 

"Protecting these areas provides the opportunity to restore this land to its former glory," Blair Mack, elected councillor for the Nuxalk Nation, said at the conference. 

The Nuxalk Nation will receive almost $4.5 million to acquire and protect land from extractive industries, including forestry and mining. The nation will also use funding to enhance the Great Bear Rainforest, a 6.4-million-hectare Indigenous-led conservation zone along the West Coast. 

"Nuxalk have been stewards of the land for time immemorial," Mack said. "We know and understand the territory and how it should be looked after."

Thursday's announcement also includes $37 million in funding for the B.C. Parks Foundation, to protect about 4,000 hectares of carbon-rich grasslands, forests, wetlands and riverbeds in southern Interior, Vancouver Island and northern B.C. 

"We're holding this incredible gift, this treasure from the original earth in our hands, and it is our responsibility to pass it on to the future," Andrew Day, CEO of the B.C. Parks Foundation, said Thursday.

Ottawa's contribution to the B.C. Parks foundation represented its largest to any of the 10 projects. 

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The next highest grant announced is a $9-million contribution for Community Forests International, a collaboration of First Nations and non-Indigenous conservation groups in New Brunswick that plans to use the money to protect land on the homelands of the Wabanaki nations. 

The Nature Trust of B.C. will receive more than $8 million to protect a total of 552 hectares of land by creating 11 new protected areas. 

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, these areas will be across B.C., including on the Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island and East Kootenays, and will protect several at-risk species including the western toad, grizzly bear and southern mountain caribou. 

More than $5 million will go to the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba to protect carbon-rich peat moss bogs from harvesting and being drained for mining or agriculture. 

The rest of the funding will go to another project in Manitoba, two in Ontario, and one project each in Quebec and Alberta.

Commitments to conservation

The funding comes from Environment and Climate Change Canada's Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund, a $1.4-billion commitment to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 5 to 7 megatonnes by 2030 through projects that protect and restore natural ecosystems. 

In an email to CBC News, Environment and Climate Change Canada spokesperson Tarik Abouziane said with the contributions announced Thursday, about $600 million of that fund has been allocated so far.

Maharaj said while the recent announcement gets the federal government closer to its interim goal of protecting a quarter of its lands and oceans by 2025, it may not hit its target. According to the federal government, it has protected 13.7 per cent of its lands and 14.7 per cent of its waters so far.

Environment and Climate Change Canada will open its next intake for emissions reductions projects through the fund this fall.