Canadian National Wetlands Inventory
Introduction
The Canadian National Wetlands Inventory (CNWI) is a comprehensive, publicly available national geodatabase that maps wetlands across Canada. It brings together the best available wetland data in a standardized format verified for consistency, reliability, and accuracy.
Wetlands are vital ecosystems that support people and nature. They provide habitat for many species, including species at risk, and play a key role in capturing and storing carbon, helping to combat climate change. Wetlands also protect communities by reducing flood risks, replenishing groundwater, and improving water quality through the filtration of pollutants and sediments.
Along with their environmental benefits, wetlands are culturally and spiritually significant to Indigenous Peoples, providing opportunities and spaces for traditional practices, including for medicinal, ceremonial, and artistic purposes. They hold economic and social importance for all Canadians, providing many communities with food, materials for daily life, and opportunities for recreation. Globally, many countries recognize a responsibility to care for wetlands, not only for the practical benefits they provide, but also out of respect for their intrinsic value and their essential role in maintaining the health and balance of the natural world.
The 2025 update to the CNWI significantly expanded national coverage to 33% of Canada’s landmass (about 3.4 million km2), a substantial increase from 13% in 2024. More than 12 million individual wetlands, representing about 640,000 km2 of wetland habitat from 10 provinces and territories, are included in the dataset.
The CNWI offers information to support:
- sustainable land use planning that enables economic development while avoiding and restoring important and sensitive ecosystems across Canada. It can also help identify and prioritize areas where additional wetland data are needed – particularly in peatlands and coastal wetlands that can contribute to capturing and storing greenhouse gas emissions
- climate change actions including greenhouse gas sequestration modelling as it contains descriptive attributes such as vegetation and soil type
- research and innovation, for example, to train and validate machine-learning algorithms for modelling wetland coverage from coast to coast to coast and analyze changes in extent over time
- public education about the distribution of wetlands across Canada by and for federal/provincial/territorial governments, non-governmental organizations, Indigenous groups, schools, land managers, businesses, and Canadians
CNWI is developed and maintained by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in collaboration with Natural Resources Canada, provincial and territorial governments, academia, the Canadian Wetlands Roundtable, and non‑governmental organizations. ECCC is also working with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis nations, governments and organizations to better bridge, braid and weave the Indigenous science approach with the Western science approach to inform and enhance the inventory. ECCC continues to work with its partners to expand the wetland coverage of the CNWI through a combination of gathering new data and using AI-driven remote sensing analyses to fill remaining gaps.
Long description
Map of Canada showing the current extent of the Canadian National Wetlands Inventory (CNWI) as of June 2025. The map integrates data from twenty-seven source datasets covering all, or parts of, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Yukon.
Data standardization
Source data for the CNWI come from federal, provincial, and territorial governments, as well as non‑governmental organizations.
Given that a broad range of data providers use different methods to collect wetland data, all source data are standardized into a single CNWI classification system, also known as a schema. The CNWI schema is based on the Canadian Wetland Classification System (PDF, 21 MB). It includes:
- five primary wetland classes: Bog, Fen, Swamp, Marsh, and Shallow/Open Water
- eight subclasses: Rich Fen, Poor Fen, Organic Swamp, Mineral Swamp, Organic Marsh, Mineral Marsh, Shallow Water, and Open Water
- three additional categories when applicable: Peatland, Mixed, or Unclassified
The 2025 update is available as a downloadable file geodatabase and as a new interactive online map (Web Map Service), available via GEO.ca and the Open Science and Data Platform (OSDP).
For more information on CNWI and related database, please refer to the CNWI Database User Manual (PDF, 1.8MB) and other supporting documents listed below.
Source datasets
| Number | Province or territory | Source link | Wetland polygons | Wetland extent (ha) | Contributing organization |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N.B. | Download New Brunswick wetland dataset | 154,464 | 672,597 | Government of New Brunswick, Department of Environment and Local Government |
| 2 | P.E.I. | Not available | 10,157 | 39,474 | Government of Prince Edward Island, Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action |
| 3 | N.S. | Not available | 104,477 | 407,672 | Government of Nova Scotia, Department of Natural Resources and Renewables |
| 4 | Y.T. | Not available | 1,434 | 10,741 | Government of Yukon, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources |
| 5 | Y.T. | Download Yukon vegetation inventory dataset (available in English only) | 8,117 | 182,231 | Government of Yukon, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources |
| 6 | Ont. | Download Ontario wetland dataset (available in English only) | 3,504,073 | 37,095,597 | Government of Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry |
| 7 | Que. | Download Quebec wetland dataset 2022 (available in French only) | 218,871 | 475,445 | Ducks Unlimited Canada; Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 8 | Que. | Download Quebec dataset of potential wetlands 2019 (available in French only) | 72,440 | 323,950 | Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 9 | B.C. | Not available | 38,860 | 405,611 | Government of British Columbia, Ministry of Waters, Lands and Resource Stewardship |
| 10 | B.C. | Not available | 509 | 1,495 | Environment and Climate Change Canada |
| 11 | B.C. | Not available | 43 | 183 | Nature Trust of British Columbia |
| 12 | B.C. | Not available | 63 | 47 | Nature Conservancy of Canada |
| 13 | B.C. | Not available | 252 | 226 | Ducks Unlimited Canada |
| 14 | B.C. | Not available | 89,475 | 289,511 | Ducks Unlimited Canada |
| 15 | Man. | Download Manitoba wetland dataset (Assiniboine River Valley) (available in English only) | 214,612 | 114,588 | Government of Manitoba, Department of Conservation and Water Stewardship; Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation |
| 16 | Man. | Download Manitoba land use/land cover dataset (available in English only) | 381,415 | 1,136,024 | Government of Manitoba, Department of Conservation and Water Stewardship; Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation |
| 17 | Man. | Download Manitoba wetland dataset (Southern Peatlands 2013) (available in English only) | 143,336 | 1,422,793 | Government of Manitoba, Department of Conservation and Water Stewardship; Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation |
| 18 | Man. | Download Manitoba wetland dataset (Whitewater Lake 2009) (available in English only) | 20,278 | 22,168 | Government of Manitoba, Department of Conservation and Water Stewardship; Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation |
| 19 | N.L. | Not available | 4,271 | 30,906 | Environment and Climate Change Canada |
| 20 | N.L. | Not available | 40,902 | 131,603 | Environment and Climate Change Canada |
| 21 | Que. | Download Quebec dataset of potential wetlands 2023 (Inventaire écoforestier du Québec méridional) (available in French only) Download Quebec dataset of eco-forestry disturbances (available in French only) |
1,880,624 | 10,463,860 | Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 22 | Que. | Download Quebec dataset of potential wetlands 2023 (Programme d’inventaire écoforestier nordique) (available in French only) Download Quebec forestry dataset (Programme d’inventaire écoforestier nordique) (available in French only) |
89,347 | 3,275,740 | Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 23 | Que. | Download Quebec dataset of potential wetlands 2023 (Résilience côtière) (available in French only) | 6,435 | 8,213 | Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 24 | Que. | Download Quebec dataset of potential wetlands 2023 (Cartographie de la végétation du Nord) (available in French only) Download Quebec vegetation mapping dataset (Cartographie de la végétation du Nord) (available in French only) |
175,226 | 4,125,254 | Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 25 | Que. | Download Quebec detailed wetland dataset (available in French only) | 14,316 | 12,303 | Ducks Unlimited Canada; Government of Quebec, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks |
| 26 | Sask. | Not available | 43,727 | 28,110 | Environment and Climate Change Canada |
| 27 | Sask. | Download Saskatchewan digital landcover dataset (available in English only) | 4,910,159 | 3,337,477 | Government of Saskatchewan, Ministry of Environment |
Contact
For more information, please contact
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Place Vincent Massey
351 St. Joseph Boulevard
Gatineau QC K1A 0H3
Telephone: 819-997-2800
Toll Free: 1-800-668-6767 (in Canada only)
Email: scf-geocarto-cws-geomapping@ec.gc.ca