Canada and PEI invest in protected areas
Islanders will benefit from new efforts to protect natural areas and fight climate change.
Today, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, and PEI’s Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Change, Brad Trivers, announced that the Government of Canada is providing over $1.4 million to the Government of Prince Edward Island. These funds are being provided through the Target 1 Challenge component of the Canada Nature Fund.
This project will help conserve approximately 4,400 hectares of high-priority areas and habitats, including PEI’s forests and wetlands, and will expand upon existing protected areas and establish new conserved areas in the province. Importantly, the project will protect PEI’s old-growth forest and will have numerous benefits for species at risk including the common nighthawk, the Canada warbler, and the rusty blackbird.
“Prince Edward Island and its partners are contributing to Canada’s biodiversity by protecting and conserving PEI’s natural heritage. The Government of Canada is proud to be a partner in this effort, which is an important step toward our targets of protecting a quarter of Canada’s lands and a quarter of its oceans by 2025 and working toward 30 percent of each by 2030. Together, we will ensure a healthy, prosperous environment for generations to come.”
– The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Prince Edward Island and other partners including Ducks Unlimited Canada, Island Nature Trust, Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI are contributing $3.4 million in cash or in-kind donations to this $4.8 million project.
“Islanders have a deep connection to the land, water, and forests. We need to work together to protect the habitats of our most vulnerable wildlife species.”
– The Honourable Brad Trivers, Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Change
Through the $500 million Canada Nature Fund, the Government of Canada supports the efforts of partners across the country to protect nature. Federal investments are matched by philanthropic foundations, corporations, not-for-profits, provinces, territories, and other partners, raising a total of $1 billion for conservation action in Canada.
Media contacts:
Leanne Ritchie
Department of Environment, Water and Climate Change
902-314-0134
lpritchie@gov.pe.ca
Moira Kelly
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change
819-271-6218
moira.kelly@canada.ca
Media Relations
Environment and Climate Change Canada
819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free)
ec.media.ec@canada.ca
Backgrounder
The Government of Canada is committed to doubling the amount of protected nature in our lands and waters across Canada.
Through Budget 2018, the Government invested a historic $1.3-billion to protect Canada’s nature, including the establishment of new protected and conserved areas as well as new Indigenous protected and conserved areas.
Globally, Canada has 20 percent of freshwater resources, 24 percent of wetlands, 25 percent of temperate rainforests, and 33 percent of remaining boreal forest.
Canada also has almost one third of all land-based carbon storage: a vital element of action on climate change.
PEI is the most densely populated province in Canada, and it has the highest percentage of private land. These two factors combine to make land protection in PEI particularly challenging. This investment in the protection of 4,440 hectares on the island is impressive.
PEI’s current protected area stands at 24,848 hectares (4.4 percent of the land base). The province is committed to meeting its stated target of protecting 7 percent of its land, by the end of 2020.
The Government of Canada has also invested in expanding PEI’s protected and conserved areas through the Quick Start component of the Canada Nature Fund.