This will be an important year for our planet — one where the world must dramatically increase our ambitions as we tackle the escalating crises of climate change and wildlife loss. So, we wanted to update you on just some of the projects, reports and events that WWF-Canada has planned in 2020 to help protect nature and people.
Watershed Reports Canada is home to one fifth of the world’s freshwater. Thousands of intertwining rivers and lakes make up the 25 watersheds across our country that provide the essentials of life for people, animals and ecosystems.
But these watersheds are in trouble. In 2017, our first Watershed Report identified priority threats and discovered a data deficit across the country.
This year’s Watershed Report will be providing updates on the health indicators across Canada, including information on water flow, water quality, fish populations and benthic invertebrates, the tiny bugs living at the bottom of water bodies. This new data will help us assess the overall health of these watersheds and determine which areas will require further oversight.
ITZ Forum This year kicks off the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, and our In the Zone Forum is a perfect place to start. This one-day event on March 11, hosted by WWF-Canada and Carolinian Canada, will bring together municipalities, community groups, Indigenous leaders, corporations and enthusiastic gardeners to learn more about how native plants can help us restore ecosystems, provide nature-based climate solutions and protect local biodiversity.
Blue Resilience Research Action Centre This spring, WWF-Canada’s Quebec program is launching the Blue Resilience research-action centre in collaboration with the Université de Montréal. Due to the impacts of climate change, southern Quebec municipalities and citizens have been facing increasing flood risks. Our new centre will help by offering nature-based solutions to improve climate resilience in cities to strengthen communities and support urban biodiversity.
MECCEA Canada announced last summer that it had protected 13.82 per cent of its ocean territory, surpassing the UN Convention on Biological Diversity target of 10 per cent by 2020. These federal Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) ban oil and gas exploration, mining, dumping and bottom trawling.
This was great news, but MPAs must be about more than percentage targets. We need to ensure they’re protecting the most important habitats and that they’re connected to each other because marine wildlife doesn’t stay put, especially with the climate crisis increasing ocean temperatures and acidification. This is particularly true in the warming Arctic where melting ice has been attracting the eyes of industry.
So, WWF-Canada is releasing its MECCEA project later this year. Our Marine Ecological Conservation for the Canadian Eastern Arctic research will identify a network of priority areas to best protect the present — and the future — of the species and habitats in this climate-threatened ecosystem.
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