FAQ for data contributors

1. Why should our organization contribute data?

Restoration plays an essential role in addressing the biodiversity and climate crises. By restoring degraded lands and waters, we can protect wildlife habitat, improve ecosystem health, and build more resilient communities.

The more collective action achieved, the better we can use nature to address biodiversity and climate impact. By working together and sharing information, we can demonstrate how local and regional efforts add up to significant national impact.

Canada has also committed to restoration targets through international agreements, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), which calls for 30% of degraded lands and waters to be under restoration by 2030.

Beyond biological recovery, restoration is a critical pathway for reconciliation. It provides an opportunity to heal the relationship between people and the land, acknowledging the leadership and knowledge systems of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis as central to Canada’s conservation future.

Mission Restoration will provide insights into how restoration actions are adding up throughout Canada, along with the benefits to nature, communities, and climate that restoration brings.

By sharing your data, you are helping Mission Restoration:

• Track and count current restoration initiatives through an aggregated national view of restoration efforts.
• Build collective momentum and galvanize organizations to undertake new and complex restoration projects.
• Inspire investments and support Canada’s international restoration commitment to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Raise awareness and build a knowledge-exchange network around the benefits, science, and support of restoration for nature and climate.

2. Who can submit restoration data to this platform?

We welcome data from a diverse range of restoration practitioners, implementers, and partners across Canada. This includes First Nations, Inuit, and Métis land- and rights-holders, as well as municipal, provincial, and government agencies.

We also encourage submissions from non-profit organizations, community-led conservation groups, and private sector partners engaged in large-scale ecosystem restoration of 5 hectares or more. Our goal is to ensure all credible restoration efforts are visible and counted as part of our national story.

3. What counts as restoration?

Restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed (Society for Ecological Restoration). It encompasses a wide continuum of practices—from reducing environmental impacts to full ecological recovery—depending on local conditions and societal choice (UNEP, 2021).

Within Mission Restoration, this process is elevated to a nation-building project. It is a journey of reconciliation and healing relations—not only with the land and water but among the people who steward them. By connecting practitioners across regions and knowledge systems, the program seeks to restore the reciprocal bonds between land- and rights-holders and the natural world, ensuring that restoration efforts are visible, credible, and contribute to collective national outcomes.

4. Which ecosystem restoration activities qualify towards Mission Restoration?

Mission Restoration is focused on large-scale, complex ecosystem restoration of 5 hectares or more across land, freshwater, and coastal systems.

Specific activities are context- and ecosystem-specific and can vary widely. Generally, eligible activities include reforestation with native species, large-scale wetland and riparian restoration, or the removal of significant barriers to fish passage, such as dam removals or culvert remediations.

For guidance on eligible activities, please refer to the IUCN Restoration Intervention Typology for Terrestrial Ecosystems.

For projects in coastal or maritime environments, interventions should align with the International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration, ensuring that seascape projects are held to the same credible standards as land-based ones.

We prioritize initiatives that:

• Improve ecosystem functions: Activities that restore vital natural processes, such as flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, or water filtration.
• Recover native biodiversity: Efforts that prioritize the return of native species and the re-establishment of habitats original to the site.
• Balance human and nature benefits: Restoration that treats the recovery of biodiversity as an equal priority to the services the ecosystem provides to communities.

If you are unsure whether your project counts, please contact us at [email protected] to discuss how your work contributes to Canada’s collective national outcomes.

5. What projects will not be counted towards Mission Restoration?

Mission Restoration is designed to track and accelerate additional, voluntary restoration efforts. Therefore, the following types of projects do not qualify for submission:

• Legally required mitigation: Any project required by Canadian or provincial legislation as a condition of approval for planned environmental damage, such as habitat mitigation approved under an environmental assessment process.
• Offsets and habitat banking: Projects created specifically to offset impacts at another location, such as habitat banking approved under the Fisheries Act.
• Individual small-scale projects under 5 hectares: Mission Restoration focuses on large-scale, complex restoration. However, if your organization manages multiple restoration sites that collectively total 5 hectares or more, these projects are eligible and we encourage you to submit the combined data.

Why this distinction? Our goal is to measure restoration that goes above and beyond regulatory “business as usual” to contribute to Canada’s national biodiversity and climate targets.

If you are not sure whether your project counts towards Mission Restoration, please contact us at [email protected] and we will confirm whether your project can be included.

6. How is Indigenous Nations ownership and control of data maintained?

WWF-Canada’s data-sharing agreement follows the First Nations Principles of OCAP® — Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession — by the First Nations Information Governance Centre.

Any data submitted by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities will remain theirs. They have the right to revoke their consent at any time by giving WWF-Canada notice as outlined in the data-sharing agreement.

Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

7. What will WWF-Canada do with the data?

WWF-Canada will compile the data and share aggregated results first with collaborators in Mission Restoration.

Aggregated data will also be shared with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to support Canada’s national reporting on the Convention on Biological Diversity Target 2.

The information may also be used by WWF-Canada for analysis, and aggregated data may be included in publications on WWF-Canada’s owned channels, including the Mission Restoration web page.

8. How will you ensure the location of our project is not revealed?

All data submitted will only be reported in aggregated form in any forward-facing reporting and communication. The details you provide will not be shared with external parties.

9. Can I save my progress and return to it later?

• A Save and Continue option is available, allowing you to save your progress and return later if you do not have all the necessary information on hand.
• To use this option, the organizational details need to be completed first. A unique code will be sent to the email address listed, allowing you to pick up where you left off.
• No data will be submitted unless you click the submit button.
• Our team does not have access to stored or incomplete data. If the form is left unfinished, the data will not be retrievable. Take your time and ensure all information is accurate before proceeding.

10. What should I do if a mistake was made on the form?

Please refrain from resubmitting your data if there is a mistake. Contact [email protected] with the information you would like to update.

11. Where will the data be stored? Is it secure?

For now, the data will be stored on WWF-Canada’s server. Data contributors will be notified if there are any changes.

12. How were the Mission Restoration metrics compiled?

Compiling Mission Restoration’s metrics began with data from restoration projects funded through WWF-Canada’s Nature and Climate Grant Program, covering a wide range of ecosystems across the country.

We identified common metrics that could be shared across projects and then expanded the list using national and international monitoring frameworks.

WWF-Canada is now refining the list to focus on the most relevant metrics for Canada’s restoration efforts. These align with global goals, including the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Target 2, the Freshwater Challenge, and the Bonn Challenge.

Mission Restoration’s metrics are compiled using an iterative process that will evolve based on the data submitted. We recognize that different practitioners collect different types of data.

With input from government agencies and technical experts, we will continue to adjust the data requested to ensure it addresses a range of ecological, social, and policy dimensions across Canada, while being sensitive to local capacity challenges around monitoring and reporting.

This ensures that future analysis of the data is applicable to the Canadian context, allowing for more effective tracking of restoration progress and impact over time.

Below are the resources used by experts at WWF-Canada to compile Mission Restoration’s metrics and indicators:

• Metrics from the Global Biodiversity Framework’s Monitoring Framework
  
• Restoration Barometer: A Guide for Governments
  
• Society for Ecological Restoration: Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration
• Hold Big Business to Task on Ecosystem Restoration

13. Is there any financial support for organizations to submit their data?

We are not currently offering any financial support for organizations submitting their data.

14. Does Mission Restoration have a timeframe for the information it is collecting?

Mission Restoration is compiling restoration data from 2020 to 2030.

15. Is Mission Restoration connected with Environment and Climate Change Canada?

Mission Restoration is a WWF-Canada initiative that supports Environment and Climate Change Canada by collecting data from restoration projects across Canada.

All data submitted to Mission Restoration will be compiled and submitted by WWF-Canada to Environment and Climate Change Canada in aggregated form.

16. Is there an Information Sharing Agreement?

Yes. An Information Sharing Agreement will need to be signed by all organizations contributing data before any data can be submitted.

This is an automatic process as you go through the data submission form. A preview of the Information Sharing Agreement can be accessed through the form. If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].

17. How does WWF-Canada ensure that the data collected is not double-counting restoration projects?

To reduce the risk of double-counting, WWF-Canada collects specific information about each project, including the name of the project, funders, and funding programs supporting it.

This allows WWF-Canada to cross-check the data with funders that Environment and Climate Change Canada is tracking for national progress.

By comparing this information, WWF-Canada can identify and account for cases where multiple organizations may be reporting the same project.