Natural Climate Solutions are Gaining Momentum

The climate crisis has been critical for years already. A great number of Canadian communities have come forward saying the emergency of the climate situation. We have slowed our pace due to COVID-19 contagiousness. We need to do more and in a permanent manner.

Saving green spaces, protecting lands and oceans, and using nature-based solutions to fight climate change are actions we can take. Canada’s forests, land, water, and oceans are critical natural resources, we need to leverage nature as an ally.

Natural climate solutions are gaining momentum. China recently pubished “Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Manifesto” and New Zealand is also prone to nature-based solutions. Canada, is moving in this direction. The government committed $2-billion to plant two billion trees by 2030. This is in addition to the approximate 600 million trees planted across Canada each year.

Trees capture carbon like any other means but they are only part of what nature has to offer. NCS includes nature-based approaches to manage and protect the ecosystems.

Peatlands, store twice as much carbon dioxide as the world’s forests. Canada houses the world’s largest peatland ecosystems covering 12 per cent of our total land area. The Canadian peatlands can store up to 150 billion tonnes of carbon.

Canada’s coastal ecosystem can capture more CO2 per unit area than any other natural system and could capture more carbon dioxide as sea-levels rise. NCS has low maintenance costs. Other benefits to it is the protection of the wildlife habitat, improving our food and water.

Time is a crucial aspect in our strategy. The faster we act, the greater the results. NCS only take three per cent of public funding for emissions reductions. Reducing by one-third of the greenhouse gas emission required to meet our goals by 2030, it is not enough.

Going forward, we need to protect spaces, increase their value in our eyes, consider natural environments in infrastructure, and increase NCS contribution. Our success depends on leveraging nature’s contribution to our climate resiliency. We need #naturenow.

Original authors: Samantha Page is a research associate with The Conference Board of Canada. Roger Francis is the organization’s director of sustainability.