Effective Conservation
Conserving the Right Areas in the Right Ways
Land and freshwater conservation isn’t just about setting areas aside for nature. Success depends on protecting enough habitat to support sustainable populations of all species, as well as protecting the right areas so that protected and conserved areas can function together as an ecological network.
As we work to build Canada’s conservation network, we also need to ensure that areas we conserve offer the greatest conservation value possible for biodiversity. The following types of information help decision makers plan where to focus conservation efforts for maximum outcomes for biodiversity. This can mean ensuring large conservation sites are connected to allow species to move between them; having a standard system to measure what biodiversity is present; targeting areas where biodiversity is especially significant; creating robust funding solutions, and more. Together, these elements help ensure that networks of protected and conserved areas protect the right places in the right ways to maximize biodiversity conservation outcomes.
Learn more about Canada’s efforts to make biodiversity protection in Canada’s conservation network more effective.
Connectivity
Protected areas are recognized globally as the foundation of humanity’s efforts to conserve biodiversity (Margules and Pressey 2000), but these areas alone are not always enough. For protected areas to have long-term biodiversity outcomes, especially in areas of high human activity, they need to be ecologically connected to other protected or natural areas as part of ecological networks (Hilty et al. 2020). The Global Biodiversity Framework Target 3 acknowledges that protected and other conserved areas have to be ecologically well-connected and included in the wider landscape to help reverse the decline of biodiversity.
What is connectivity?
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), ecological connectivity is the unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth. Wildlife, for example, move to access food and water, establish new territories, avoid predators, and find breeding partners. When ecological connectivity is disrupted due to human activities (for example; breaking up habitats due to road construction), it negatively changes the critical life processes that maintain the area’s biodiversity.
Maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecological connectivity across Canada’s protected and conserved areas network helps to limit the negative changes that can happen when habitats have been broken up. It also allows the conservation of genetic diversity, supports migration routes and stop-over sites for migratory species, and provides wildlife access to a greater amount and variety of habitats. Programs like the National Program for Ecological Corridors support the conservation of connectivity through the creation of ecological corridors in key areas across Canada.
Toolbox References
Hilty J., Worboys, G.L., Keeley, A., Woodley, S., Lausche, B., Locke, H., Carr, M., Pulsford, I., Pittock, J., Wilson White, J., Theobald, D.M., Levine, J., Reuling, M., Watson, J.E.M., Ament, R., and Tabor G.M. (2020) Guidelines for conserving connectivity through ecological networks and corridors. Best Practices Protected Area Guidelines Series No. 30. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
Margules, C.R. and Pressey, R.L., 2000. Systematic conservation planning. Nature, 405(6783), pp.243-253.
Connectivity Toolbox
The Connectivity Toolbox contains resources (e.g., policies, guidance, best practices, case studies, analytical programs, etc.) to help all levels of government, land managers and land owners advance connectivity conservation throughout the country. This Toolbox focuses on resources that are relevant to Canada in particular and provides links to other excellent sources of information.
This Excel version of the Toolbox is available in a searchable / sortable table (last updated August 2024).
Please email the Connectivity Working Group Secretariat if you would like to suggest a resource to add.
Freshwater Structural Connectivity Indicator (2021)
Working with the Connectivity Working Group, Drs. Guenther Grill & Bernhard Lehner (McGill) have adapted their global free flowing river index to measure freshwater connectivity specifically from the perspective of protected areas. This indicator will be used for measuring progress towards achieving ecological connectivity and for national and international reporting purposes. Coding (in Python) for the indicator is available upon request; please email us at the Connectivity Working Group Secretariat to request access.
Key Biodiversity Areas
Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are places that are particularly important for the survival of nature. This means they are areas that are important, not just for wildlife, but also for entire ecosystems. A place can be a KBA for a variety of reasons…it may contain a threatened species or ecosystem, or it may be an important area for species during migration, reproduction or for some other reason. Learn more about KBAs through the resources below.
Learn more about KBAs
A Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas
The KBA Global Standard was developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and provides criteria to identify Key Biodiversity Areas.
From the international KBA community
The international KBA community has developed a webinar explaining the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidance on KBAs: Guidelines for using A Global Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas. The webinar is presented by Dr. Charlotte Boyd, chair of the KBA Standards and Appeals Committee and the main author of the Guidelines for implementing the KBA Standard.
A National Standard for the Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas in Canada
Adapted from the Global KBA Standard, the rigorous and quantitative National Standard allows us to comprehensively include Canadian conservation priorities in our work, such as species and ecosystems at risk in Canada that aren’t threatened globally
Ecological Representation – conserving some of everything
Canada’s nature is diverse; our protected and conserved areas network needs to represent that diversity.
Canada reports the amount of area conserved in each of 18 different ‘ecozones’ through the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) program. Ecozones are large, very broad areas of the Earth’s surface defined by both living and non-living features. Examples of ecozones are the Prairies, Boreal Shield and Hudson Plains.
‘Ecoregions’ are smaller areas that reflect the variability that occurs within an ecozone. There are 215 terrestrial ecoregions in Canada. Examples of ecoregions include Mixedgrass Prairie, Avalon Forest (in the Boreal Shield), and Coastal Hudson Bay Lowlands.
The Pathway National Advisory Panel recommended that ecological representation be evaluated at the ecoregion level. Measuring Canada’s progress at the ecoregion level, as well as the ecozone level, will help us conserve some of everything.
Canadian Terrestrial Ecological Framework
The Canadian Terrestrial Ecological Framework (CTEF) contains the updated spatial and attribute data on ecozones and ecoregions in Canada as of 2019. While not an official update to Canada’s ecoregions, the CTEF has been developed to support national reporting on ecological representation under the Pathway to Canada Target 1 initiative. It is compiled and managed by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), in collaboration with provincial and territorial jurisdictions. The CTEF is an ESRI™ geodatabase with a Canada Albers Equal Area Conic geographic projection. In addition, the geodatabase has been aligned to Canada’s coastlines as defined by the Topographic Data of Canada – CanVec Series at a scale of 1: 1,000,000. While this coverage contains the most recent information available from jurisdictions at the time of compilation, all parties interested in using this layer should note that jurisdictions use different methodologies. The national data layer harmonizes these products by adjusting ecoregion boundaries at political boundaries, however; please refer to the data provided on the appropriate provincial or territorial website for the methodology used to define ecoregions in each jurisdiction.
Conservation Economics
The value of nature for our mental and physical health is relatively well known. However, the value of nature for our national and local economies is a topic that deserves greater attention.
Whether it’s examining new ways of funding protected and conserved areas for the long-term or better understanding the local economies and jobs created through conservation efforts, there are many important discussions to be had surrounding conservation economics.
The Economic Impacts of Conservation (updated January 2021) is a compilation of recent publications that look at the economic impacts of conservation both in Canada and globally.
