Integrated Biodiversity Pathways for Sustainability in Canada

Home to large tracts of intact forest and one quarter of the wetlands remaining in the world, Canada plays an indispensable role in maintaining global biodiversity. The past decade has been marked by significant progress in biodiversity conservation in Canada, in particular through the expansion of protected areas to meet the Aichi 2020 target of conserving 10% of coastal and marine areas. Despite this progress, biodiversity loss continues to accelerate across the country, resulting from a range of complex and interrelated drivers including widespread extractive human activities, regional climate change, and many others. This report presents a reflection on progress and challenges over the past decade for biodiversity conservation and action-oriented recommendations to chart pathways forward for nature-centered development in Canada.This work was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, under the Knowledge Synthesis Grant - Living within the Earth's Carrying Capacity