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Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on Thursday published Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy: Halting and Reversing Biodiversity Loss in Canada (the Strategy) alongside proposed legislation titled the Nature Accountability Act (the Bill), which received its first reading in the House of Commons last week. The Strategy outlines how Canada will implement its nature protection goals under the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) (see our earlier bulletin here), building on existing initiatives across Canada, and defining clear areas of action and improvement. The Bill aims to enshrine the government’s commitment to protecting nature in legislation.    At the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) on biological diversity in Montreal in 2022, Canada committed to protecting 30 per cent of its land and water by 2030, and putting nature on a recovery path by 2050. Canada’s Strategy is mandated to outline the actions that will be taken to achieve these goals.   This bulletin briefly summarizes the Strategy and the Bill.   The 2030 Nature Strategy:   With the aim of ensuring an inclusive, adaptable and evidence-based pathway, the Strategy sets out six pillars: Recognize and uphold Indigenous rights. Honour Indigenous peoples’ roles as original caretakers of the land, waters, and ice, and advance reconciliation through the protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples set out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP); Ensure a whole-of-society approach. Foster policy coherence and collective action across government, society, and industries; Support a resilient economy. Build a resilient economy that acknowledges the intrinsic link between prosperity and healthy environment; Adopt flexible community-based approaches. Support regional differences, empower communities, and adopt flexible approaches that reflect local needs; Use the best available science and equal weight to Western and Indigenous Knowledge. Combine Western science and Indigenous Knowledge to inform decision-making and share information transparently; and  Ensure a holistic approach. Embrace…

Countries meeting as parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at COP15 in Montreal reached an ‘historic’ deal aimed at protecting nature’s biodiversity early today. Draft decision documents are available on the CBD website. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (the GBF) sets out 23 conservation targets, including a requirement the countries ensure that at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas are “effectively conserved and managed” by 2030 (referred to as the 30×30 goal). The GBF also includes a requirement that countries take legal, administrative or policy measures to encourage and enable businesses (particularly multi-nationals and financial institutions) to: (a) monitor, assess, and disclose risk and impacts on biodiversity; (b) provide information that promotes sustainable consumption patterns; and (c) report on compliance, all in order to “progressively reduce negative impacts on biodiversity, increase positive impacts, reduce biodiversity-related risks to business and financial institutions, and promote actions to ensure sustainable patterns of production.” In addition, the GBF includes: An acknowledgement of the US$700B annual gap in the estimated cost of preserving nature globally as compared to the amount that is currently spent.   A target to close the gap by reducing government subsidies that promote nature loss by at least US$500B per year by 2030. A target to substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources to implement national biodiversity strategies and action plans by mobilizing at least US$200B per year by 2030, including an increase in financing from developed countries to the developing world to aid in conservation efforts from US$10B to at least US$20B annually by 2025 and at least US$30B annually by 2030.   Multiple targets making express reference to the rights and role of Indigenous peoples in protecting nature. Countries previously agreed the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2022 under the CBD, which…