WWF-Canada launches ‘Mission Restoration’ to put nature on a path to recovery in Canada

The initiative will bring restoration practitioners together to work toward restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems

OCTOBER 29, 2024, Cali, Colombia—WWF-Canada launched “Mission Restoration” at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s Conference of the Parties (COP16) today — a collaborative initiative toward helping to reach Canada’s restoration goals under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

Mission Restoration aims to bring together organizations that are committed to restoring essential ecosystems, providing valuable insights into how restoration actions are adding up throughout Canada, inspiring others to join the effort to bring nature back and helping to raise awareness of the benefits to nature, communities and climate that restoration brings.

To ensure we are working effectively together, we are today inviting large land and rightsholders in Canada, including Indigenous communities, non-profit organizations, governments at all levels and businesses that are investing in broad-scale ecosystem restoration, to join us. Together, we will build awareness of the important role of restoration in fighting biodiversity loss and climate change; track our progress; share knowledge and best practices; inspire investments for restoration from governments, businesses and donors; and increase the momentum of efforts to meet our international commitments.

Restoration, the process of supporting the recovery of ecosystems that have been converted or degraded because of human activities, can include a wide range of actions such as rebuilding salmon spawning channels, reforesting to fire-damaged landscapes or repairing the banks of flood-ravaged rivers. Target 2 of the GBF states that “by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity.”

Since 2020, WWF-Canada — in partnership with groups such as the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society, Katzie First Nation, ALUS, and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority—has more than 80,000 hectares restored or in progress. Our goal is to restore one million hectares by 2030, but to reach this number and to help put Canada on a path towards achieving its GBF commitments, we are looking to build a coalition of organizations engaged in this work.

Currently, organizations, government agencies, and lands and rightsholders who are conducting restoration efforts are acting largely on their own, without an understanding of how their work contributes to collective results and therefore national commitments. Mission Restoration invites them to join forces to help build awareness and enhance the recognition of restoration of areas that are five hectares or larger and are already underway.

Quotes

“Canada has committed to restoration through various international agreements, including the GBF, Global Freshwater Challenge and the Bonn Challenge. Achieving restoration at this scale will require all our combined efforts, which is why we’re supportive of WWF-Canada’s Mission Restoration. It will allow organizations doing large-scale complex ecosystem restoration to document and report their activities, ensuring the work contributes to Canada’s restoration goals,” says Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada

“WWF-Canada has been working hard toward our goal to Regenerate Canada by 2030, including restoring 1 million hectares of lost habitat. Mission Restoration is an exciting new venture that will not only help us to reach this goal, but also contribute to our national and international targets. We look forward to working with others who are doing the same,” says Megan Leslie, WWF-Canada president and CEO

“Conservation Ontario (CO) is excited to see WWF-Canada bringing restoration practitioners around the country together to help all of us reach our individual and national goals. For over 75 years Conservation Ontario and our 36-member Conservation Authority network have successfully collaborated with municipalities, residents and other partners in restoration to support biodiversity, flood risk reduction and build watershed resilience. This collaboration is an effective way to work together and make sure restoration in Canada counts,” says Angela Coleman, General Manager, Conservation Ontario

“Each and every one of us can make a difference. If we all work together hopefully, we can bring the salmon back, maybe not to historical levels but to levels where our children and grandchildren in generations to come will still be able to have salmon to eat,” says Rick Bailey, Katzie First Nation councillor

About Mission Restoration

The restoration of damaged ecosystems in Canada is critical to reversing the loss of biodiversity, supporting the rights and priorities of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and maximizing ecosystem carbon sequestration to fight climate change.

Canada’s natural ecosystems are incredibly diverse, but they’re under pressure from human activities such as resource development, urban growth, pollution and changes in land use. On top of that, natural events such as wildfires, floods, drought, as well as climate change and invasive species are exacerbating the loss of nature. All these factors have combined to destroy or fragment habitats, disrupting the important benefits that ecosystems provide.

Restoration is an important tool in the effort to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

It also improves degraded areas and brings back ecosystem benefits, supporting wildlife and contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation. Putting nature on the path to recovery can also enable Indigenous conservation leadership, improve livelihoods and help build a sustainable economy.

Mission Restoration will: 

• track and count current restoration initiatives
• galvanize organizations to undertake new complex ecosystem restoration projects
• inspire investments around national and international restoration commitments, and
• raise awareness of the benefits of restoration for nature and climate.

About World Wildlife Fund Canada 
WWF-Canada is committed to equitable and effective conservation actions that restore nature, reverse wildlife loss and fight climate change. We draw on scientific analysis and Indigenous guidance to ensure all our efforts connect to a single goal: a future where wildlife, nature and people thrive. For more information visit wwf.ca.

For more information, contact:

Tina Knezevic, senior communications specialist, WWF-Canada, [email protected]