WWF-Canada’s IPCA Support Fund

To halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 and secure the climate benefits of healthy ecosystems, Canada needs more protected areas. But a large proportion of the ecologically rich lands and waters in Canada are found on First Nation, Inuit, and Métis lands. WWF-Canada recognizes that Indigenous communities that choose to consider or engage in Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area designation processes require a wide range of support and resources.

The WWF-Canada Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) Support Fund will provide funding from $50,000 to $150,000 per year for up to three years to support Indigenous communities and organizations to consider, establish or maintain IPCAs, including overcoming hurdles and supporting capacity for long-term implementation of Indigenous knowledge and priorities in the context of IPCAs in Canada.

Examples of activities supported by the WWF-Canada IPCA Support Fund include:

• Community discussions of interest in, or approach to, creating an IPCA.
• The role of IPCAs in community well-being and nature and climate improvements.
• How to increase connectivity among IPCAs and with other conservation areas.
• Early-stage community consultation and land-use planning to assist with the delineation of an IPCA.
• Opportunities for knowledge exchange across generations, among different Indigenous communities, and between Indigenous knowledge and western science practitioners (“two-eyed seeing”).
• Securing resources to support long-term IPCA management and monitoring based on First Nation, Inuit, and Métis priorities and knowledge.
• New, sustainable, and complementary community-based social, economic and environmental opportunities for and by Indigenous communities.
• Other priorities as identified by First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities that support the intention of the IPCA Support Fund