Ontario Nature Blog

On April 1st, the Government of Ontario announced it would establish a working group to identify opportunities to protect and conserve more natural areas that would “enhance the province’s natural diversity and provide more recreational opportunities for people to enjoy the outdoors.” This was welcome news for conservation groups like ours. In January, we published ...

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It’s October 2017. I’m in Vancouver, British Colombia for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International’s General Assembly (GA). One forester colleague had warned me to get lots of sleep, drink water and do yoga in the weeks preceding the assembly. He warned it would be like running a marathon. That was an understatement. FSC holds a ...

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Since 2010, protected areas advocates have focused on the United Nations target of protecting at least 17 percent of our lands and inland waters, and 10 percent of our marine areas by 2020. Among our efforts, Ontario Nature, along with eight partner organizations, promoted the Protected Places Declaration to demonstrate widespread public support for achieving ...

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On September 28th, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada’s commitment to protect 25 percent of our lands and waters by 2025, and 30 percent by 2030. Here’s why these new targets matter and a look at progress to date:  The new targets are intended to drive an intergovernmental effort to address the interrelated crises of biodiversity loss, ecological degradation and climate change. Canada has signed onto the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature and joined the High Ambition ...

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Trees in and around urban areas maintain healthy communities. Trees not only provide the oxygen we breathe, they also play a vital role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, air pollution removal and energy conservation. But what if these benefits were purposely funneled to benefit only some communities? A report from the City of Toronto estimates ...

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