Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy and the Nature Accountability Bill

Key findings from the strategic environmental and economic assessment (SEEA) conducted for Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy and the Nature Accountability Bill.

Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy provides a national vision for future work across governments and sectors to implement Canada’s commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The GBF, which contains 23 targets to 2030 and four goals to 2050, is an ambitious global plan for nature, committing the global community to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. The 23 targets aim to reduce threats to biodiversity, meet people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing, and provide tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.

The Strategy is the result of significant public, partner and stakeholder engagement and signals Canada’s continued commitment to nature and biodiversity. It provides a path forward for increased coordination of efforts via its whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach.

Canadians were generally supportive of the Strategy. Key themes from the written submissions to Environment and Climate Change Canada in 2023 and 2024 in response to public consultations included: the Strategy should be ambitious and address all the GBF goals and targets; all decisions should align with the goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss; prioritization of solutions with co-benefits that benefit multiple targets; and ensuring increased transparency.

Canada has also developed a Domestic Biodiversity Monitoring Framework (DBMF) to track Canada’s progress in meeting the 23 targets. A high-level overview version of this Framework was included in the draft Strategy published in December 2023, and the Domestic Monitoring Framework continues to be strengthened in response to simultaneous refinement of the international monitoring framework by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

To establish a lasting framework for a coordinated approach in efforts to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Canada, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-73, An Act respecting transparency and accountability in relation to certain commitments Canada has made under the Convention on Biological Diversity (with the short title: the Nature Accountability Act). If passed into law, the bill would establish an accountability and transparency framework for the federal government in fulfilling its GBF commitments as well as related CBD commitments at the federal level. The bill outlines, among other things 1) the process for developing national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs, such as Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy) and national reports, including considerations to be applied and requirements to provide opportunities for input; 2) the authority to establish an advisory committee that would provide independent advice, including with respect to measures to contribute to global goals and targets; and 3) the requirement to publish and table NBSAPs and national reports in Parliament.  

The climate and nature effects of the proposal are expected to be positive but indirect. To the extent that the Strategy and bill may lead to actions that further the implementation of the GBF in Canada, whether by the federal government or by partners and other orders of government, this would have positive impacts on nature, biodiversity, and Canada’s ability to adapt to the effects of climate change. Canada’s work to meet the GBF targets will build on existing nature conservation and protection work. Efforts in support of the Strategy are vulnerable to various climate change hazards, such as increasing temperatures, changing precipitation, extreme events, drought, and sea level rise. The relevant climate change impacts of changing growing seasons, spread of invasive species, flooding, erosion, wildfires, more severe storm surges and degraded ecosystems are also a concern. However, given intrinsic links between biodiversity, increased resilience and capacity to adapt to a changing climate, any work stemming from the implementation of the Strategy and coming into force of the bill will also support adaptation measures.

The 2030 Nature Strategy aligns with numerous other federal strategies and initiatives, including those focused on sustainable development, climate change mitigation and adaptation, waste and pollution, reconciliation and Indigenous rights. In particular, over the medium or longer term, it would be expected that the Strategy will indirectly support several goals and targets of the 2022-2026 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS), particularly goal 15 “Protect and recover species, conserve Canadian biodiversity”. Specifically, GBF implementation related to target 3 on protected areas would be reflected in the target under the FSDS to “Conserve 25% of Canada’s land and inland waters by 2025, working toward 30% by 2030…”. Progress toward target 4 of the GBF on species at risk would support FSDS target “By 2026, increase the percentage of species at risk listed under federal law that exhibit population trends that are consistent with recovery strategies and management plans to 60% from a baseline of 42% in 2019.” Further, the GBF target related to sustainable use/harvest would support the FSDS target “By 2030, increase the percentage of migratory bird species whose population sizes fall within an acceptable range—neither too low nor too high—to 70% from 57% in 2016”. Similarly, the proposal would indirectly support FSDS targets related to Canada’s oceans under Goal 14 “Conserve and protect Canada’s oceans”. This includes the FSDS target to “Conserve 25% of marine and coastal areas by 2025, and 30% by 2030, in support of the commitment to work to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 in Canada and achieve a full recovery for nature by 2050” as well as the target “By 2026, at least 55% of Canada’s key fish stocks are in the Cautious and Healthy zone.”

In accordance with guidance under the Cabinet Directive on Strategic Environmental and Economic Assessment, this proposal’s strategic environmental and economic assessment did not include a strategic economic analysis due to the nature and scope of the proposal.