Category: Recommendations

Aligning policies and investments with halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030

The new KMGBF commits Canada to “identify, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies, harmful for biodiversity…” (Target 18). This is the single biggest opportunity for catalyzing a nature positive economy.

Target 14 requires the full integration of biodiversity values into policies, planning and accounting, and aligning fiscal and financial flows with framework goals and targets.

Current spending on practices that degrade nature far outstrips spending on those that can conserve and restore it. Action is urgently needed to identify environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS) in Canada and to pursue innovations in federal subsidy and tax reform, budgeting and policymaking, and leadership in the expansion of green financial products, to improve coherence between economic and environmental policy, and reorient the flow of public capital to catalyze new nature-positive economic opportunities.

As a starting point for delivering on these targets, the Green Budget Coalition recommends that the federal government immediately develop:

  • A plan to eliminate subsidies that are harmful to nature. The Government of Canada should immediately launch an initiative to identify all nature-negative subsidies, and then—by 2024—complete and commit to a plan to phase out, re-design, or re-orient nature-negative subsidies by 2027. (Target 18). [FIN, ECCC, DFO, AAFC, NRCan]
  • An Integrated Climate and Nature Lens for federal policy- and budget-making. The Government of Canada’s 2020 Strengthened Climate Plan committed to creating a “climate lens” as an assessment tool for all major government decisions, including federal budgets. Biodiversity should be embedded in this tool. Further, this Integrated Climate and Nature Lens should be part of the Impacts Reports included in federal budgets. See also Climate and biodiversity conditions on federal spending, earlier in this document. [PCO, FIN, ECCC]
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Managing and reducing negative impacts to biodiversity

Controlling the economic, social, and environmental impacts of invasive species

The impact of invasive species on native ecosystems, habitats, and species is catastrophic and often irreversible. In Canada, invasive species are frequently and increasingly identified as a top threat to species at risk and economic impacts result in billions of annual losses. In the early 1960s, invasive species cost North America $2 billion per year, which has increased to over $26 billion per year since 2010. Significant impacts to the agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and tourism sectors are experienced, with the Canadian agriculture sector alone estimating a $2.2 billion annual economic impact from invasive plants.

Recommended Investment: Additional $250 million over five years

Prevent new introductions of invasive species into and across Canada by identifying key pathways for introduction and providing education, resources, training, and support to address key pathways. [ECCC, PS, CFIA, AAFC]

  • Develop, implement, and monitor a National Framework for Early Detection and Rapid Response Initiatives to ensure effective and early response to new and emerging invasive species. [CFIA, AAFC, ECCC, DFO, NRCan, HC]
  • Enable and support cross-sectoral partnerships, collaboration, and Indigenous leadership and knowledge in planning, control, monitoring, and reporting to restore and improve habitat by controlling invasive species. [ECCC, DFO, AAFC, CFIA, NRCan, PS]
  • Ensure access to and encourage strong science, management, and reporting that provides accessible and transparent research and data, and that helps evaluate policies and programs to ensure effectiveness. [ECCC, DFO] See also Accurate data, research, information, and knowledge for improved evidence-based monitoring and decision-making, later in this document.

Advancing a One Health approach

There is increasing recognition that the health of humans, animals (domestic and wild), and ecosystems are interconnected. The Global Biodiversity Framework calls for countries to implement the framework with consideration of the One Health Approach. Compared to livestock and public health sectors, Canada’s current approach to wildlife health is under-resourced and reactive. The Green Budget Coalition recommends that the federal government fund the Pan-Canadian Approach to Wildlife Health, as follows:

Recommended Investment: $120 million over five years

  • $45 million for the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative and other non-government coordinating bodies, to build professional capacity within Canada, coordinate monitoring and surveillance, and provide access to diagnostics, data management and synthesis of information that is accessible across the country. [ECCC]
  • $20 million for application-based program funding to support non-government partners to deliver One Health programs including a Northern Wildlife Health Program. [ECCC, PHAC]
  • $45 million to build federal/provincial/ territorial government capacity to implement wildlife health programs that collaborate with livestock and public health sector partners. [ECCC, CFIA]
  • $10 million for governance, targeted Indigenous hunter communication tools, professional exchange programs, research fellowships, and State of Wildlife Health reports. [ECCC]

Data collection to support regulatory evaluation of pesticides

The PMRA frequently lacks data on environmental concentrations and use patterns (e.g., information on the timing, location, and quantity of pesticide applications) for the pesticides it is responsible for evaluating and regulating. This is an unacceptable gap. In 2021, the government invested $50 million over three years to strengthen pesticide oversight, including a pilot water monitoring program and development of a reporting system to collect data on pesticide use. These programs should be expanded and extended, taking into account lessons learned in the pilot phase. Systematic data collection on localized pesticide use and more comprehensive environmental monitoring data would allow the PMRA to perform trend analysis, validate models used in re-evaluation and special review assessments, identify early warnings, and better plan and target compliance and enforcement activities. However, environmental monitoring will never be comprehensive and should not be used as a pretext for disregarding precautionary modeling of exposure estimates. The collection of these data is also required to measure Canada’s progress towards meeting Target 7 in the Global Biodiversity Framework (reducing pesticide risks by 50% by 2030).

In June 2023, the government announced proposed regulatory changes to strengthen consideration of species at risk in pesticide risk assessments. The Green Budget Coalition recommends that ECCC’s Canadian Wildlife Service be funded to lead this work, and to assess and track overall risks to biodiversity from pesticides.

Recommended Investment: $95 million over five years

  • $40 million over five years (and renewal in 2029) to expand and extend the new pesticide water monitoring program. [PMRA, in collaboration with ECCC]
  • $25 million over five years to get a system for collecting pesticide use data off the ground, plus $5 million in 2024 to design and develop a publicly-accessible portal to communicate real-time pesticide use data. [PMRA, in collaboration with AAFC]
  • $25 million over five years to support consideration of species at risk in pesticide assessments, and to assess and monitor overall risks to biodiversity from pesticide use in Canada. [ECCC]

Halt and reverse bird population declines

Canada’s 451 native bird species help to keep forests and other ecosystems healthy through pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling. Canada continues to lose significant numbers of birds to human-related causes, despite protections found in Canada’s oldest nature law, the Migratory Bird Convention Act. Focused action and investments are required to restore migratory bird populations and protect their habitats, including wintering habitats for Canada’s migratory birds in Latin America. Wintering habitats are integral to meeting the energy demands of incubation (see also Increasing Canada’s international biodiversity assistance, later in this document). The following investments and actions are recommended to urgently address the five main threats to all birds: habitat loss, pesticides and contaminants, invasive species and cats, collisions, and the climate crisis.

Recommended Investment: $42 million over six years [ECCC, PC]

  • Invest in habitat restoration and protection programs, and activities that address the five human-related threats to birds in urban and working landscapes. ($18 million over six years)
  • Identify, prioritize, protect, and restore key habitats and areas for grassland birds, aerial insectivores and shorebirds. ($18 million over six years)
  • Maintain strong science programs including education and support for participatory science to inform conservation efforts (see also Accurate data, research, information, and knowledge for improved evidence-based decision-making, later in this document). ($6 million over six years)
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Freshwater management

The sustainable management and stewardship of Canada’s freshwater environments is one of the great challenges of our time, and one of the most important means by which Canada can demonstrate global natural resource leadership.

Recent investments, while encouraging, should be seen as a first step towards a coordinated national approach to protecting all of Canada’s freshwater resources, which are central to our nation’s health and prosperity. Ongoing investments in freshwater are needed to protect and restore our large lakes and river systems, and the surrounding watersheds that support them.

Total Recommended Investment: $675 million over five years, and $200 million over the following five years (2029-2034)

  • $475 million over five years to expand freshwater management practices nationally:
    • $280 million in additional funding for the Freshwater Action Plan to improve water quality, manage water quantity, and protect aquatic biodiversity through implementing watershed action plans and in-water actions nationally, starting with:
      • Saint John River (Wolostoq) and watershed
      • Great Lakes
      • St. Lawrence River System
      • Lake Winnipeg Basin
      • Fraser River
      • Mackenzie River
      • Canadian Columbia Basin
    • Investments should be prioritized through a risk-based analysis using science and research and in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. [ECCC]
  • $195 million to address the funding gap in the rest of the country for projects that address issues including climate mitigation, climate adaptation, truth and reconciliation through capacity building and partnerships with Indigenous peoples, habitat restoration, water technology and innovation, community-based water monitoring, fish population recovery, planning, and natural infrastructure. [ECCC]
  • $400 million over ten years to build on the BC Watershed Security Fund to address water quantity and quality challenges and improve freshwater environments for Pacific salmon and steelhead in the Fraser River Basin and other priority watersheds (coordinate this funding with the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative). [ECCC]

Many of Canada’s vast freshwater resources are located on Indigenous lands, whose people have stewarded these resources since time immemorial. Their inherent rights, traditional knowledge and understanding of these ecosystems should be a core component of any plans or actions taken. Additional funding for freshwater ecosystems should directly support both Indigenous-led water stewardship efforts and progress towards the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Canada.

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Underwater noise pollution

Sound is the most effective means for marine life to sense their surroundings and communicate across the ocean’s vast expanse. Impulsive noise, including seismic activity, sonar and pile driving, can result in temporary or permanent damage to aquatic species at risk. Continuous radiated noise, primarily generated by shipping traffic, leads to acoustic masking and reduces aquatic species’ ability to communicate, sense danger, forage, and mate. Underwater noise also compromises the ability of at-risk cetaceans to perceive their environment, and is considered a principal threat to the recovery of two priority species in Canada’s Whales Initiative, and a significant stressor for the third.

Recommended Investment: $200 million over five years to:

identify and implement regional, science-based underwater noise targets for key Canadian ecosystems, including the Salish Sea, Saguenay-St. Lawrence, and the Eastern Arctic; develop and establish regional noise management frameworks to achieve those targets; and begin implementation of the management frameworks, including integration into other government programs. [DFO, TC]

  • Support for Transport Canada initiatives to reduce underwater vessel noise and disturbance impacts, such as the Quiet Vessel Initiative; completing work on the national Underwater Vessel Noise Reduction advisory group and operationalizing Underwater Noise Management Planning and target requirements for vessel owners and operators; and for complementary work at the International Maritime Organization. [TC]
  • Support for DFO to develop and integrate noise monitoring into ongoing and developing implementation of MPAs and MPA networks, OECMs, IPCAs, and Critical Habitat for at- risk marine mammals. Data should be made publicly available. [DFO]
  • Mandating DFO and TC to collaborate to enforce, adaptively implement, and expand as appropriate TC initiatives for the management of vessel noise and disturbance for at-risk whales. [DFO, TC]
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Managing ocean fisheries

Globally, and in Canada the direct exploitation of wildlife is the second largest direct driver of biodiversity loss109 or degradation. Commercial fisheries represent by far the largest harvest of wild Canadian species with a total volume of 805,000 tonnes of fish in 2021. Despite a strong legal and policy framework for fisheries management, Canada’s fisheries have been marred by serial depletion of stocks, and fish populations have decreased on average by 21% between 1970 and 2016.

Meeting the ambitions of the KMGBF with regards to the use of wild species (Target 5) and responding to the challenges of a rapidly warming ocean will require a shift from the current single-species management regime to an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. This shift to an

ecosystem-based approach needs to be supported by robust science, stock assessments, strong policy implementation, and a modern fisheries catch monitoring and observer system.

Advancing the ecosystem approach to fisheries management

In 2011, Canada committed to implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAFM) under the Aichi targets (Canada target 9). While the EAFM has long been a departmental direction for DFO, implementation has been opportunistic and inconsistent rather than comprehensive which is why Canada ultimately failed to meet its target by the 2020 deadline. The commitment has now been renewed under the KMGBF under targets 5 and 9. It is critical that the necessary resources be put in place to ensure success and speed up progress toward this commitment. As the House Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans recently highlighted, climate change is already having significant impacts on Canada’s oceans and fish stocks, making the critical shift to an EAFM more urgent than ever.

Key legislative and regulatory tools are already in place to support the operationalization of the ecosystem approach through the Sustainable Fisheries Framework (SFF) and the Fish Stock Provisions under the Fisheries Act. The SFF is the primary tool available to ensure the sustainability of Canadian Fisheries. However, even this existing foundational element has not been fully implemented to date, with less than a third of Canadian fish stocks considered to be in the healthy zone and 37% lacking a comprehensive assessment.114 The Green Budget Coalition acknowledges the significant investments made in the implementation of the updated Fisheries Act in previous budgets and recommends building on the critical progress that this investment has enabled.

The Fish Stock provisions provide a critical framework for implementing DFO’s Precautionary Approach policy and for considering fish biology and environmental conditions in fisheries management– key aspects of the ecosystem approach. DFO has already begun work on an operational plan to employ these tools in support of an ecosystem approach and it is paramount that this work be fully supported through necessary capacity funding. Additionally, funding is required to fill immediate data gaps so that the EAFM can be operationalized for priority species – primarily forage fish.

Recommended Investment: $175 million over five years [DFO]

Build a modern fisheries catch monitoring and observer system

Fisheries catch monitoring is essential for science, compliance, improving business performance for fleets, and verification of standards. Canada’s assessments and management of fish populations, including species at risk, rely heavily on at-sea observer coverage and dockside monitoring. There is a global call for a significant increase in monitoring, reporting, and transparency to ensure sustainable fishing.

Canada is supporting improved compliance and monitoring schemes of countries around the globe, leading efforts to adopt high seas inspection schemes, funding global tracking systems, and engaged in negotiations on electronic monitoring standards. However, at home, Canada’s fisheries monitoring is failing to achieve target coverage levels across a wide array of fisheries despite those levels being set at embarrassingly low targets for a leading fishing nation. Moreover, the Auditor General of Canada identified severe shortcomings in Canada’s fisheries monitoring programs.

2024 will be a pivotal year for investing in an overhaul of the systems, and funding the needs identified by the current risk assessment phase of work underway for the National Catch Monitoring policy. Canada will also be required to adopt international electronic monitoring standards and should ensure a domestic standard is in place. Therefore, the Green Budget Coalition is recommending the government invests directly in key areas of the system to kick start an immediate overhaul:

Recommended Investment: $60 million over three years [DFO]

  • Support up-front costs of electronic monitoring pilots and increased coverage for high risk fisheries. ($30 million)
  • Establish electronic monitoring standards, data management policies, working groups, and modern data processing tools. ($20 million)
  • Support recruitment and training for well- paying observer jobs, especially in community and Indigenous based businesses. ($10 million)

Renew and revamp the Atlantic Fisheries Fund

The Green Budget Coalition recommends that the Atlantic Fisheries Fund be renewed and revamped to focus on improving sustainability, reducing ecosystem impacts and supporting adaptation strategies in the Atlantic fishing, shellfish, and marine plant aquaculture, and processing sectors.

Recommended Investment: $250 million over five years [DFO]

  • Support initiatives that reduce ecosystem impacts, support adaptation to changing ocean conditions, and contribute to climate mitigation efforts;
  • Ensure funding allocations have clear criteria, consistent selection processes and transparent decision-making processes;
  • Ensure funding is accessible for small businesses and non-profit organizations, inshore fleets, regenerative aquaculture of shellfish and marine plants, Indigenous and community owned businesses and organizations; and
  • Invest in research, development, and implementation of projects aimed at improving sustainability of fishing gear and aquaculture practices.
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