Gov't nature announcement means little without follow-through: CPAWS
· Toronto Sun
OTTAWA — Tuesday’s $3.8-billion nature conservation strategy unveiled by Prime Minister Mark Carney means little without a sound implementation plan.
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That’s the message from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), which is welcoming the announcement, but says a strong, speedy implementation plan is crucial.
“It’s encouraging to see elements of this announcement reflect long-standing recommendations from CPAWS, including recognizing the economic value of protecting nature and committing to advance work on natural capital accounting,” CPAWS national executive director Sandra Schwartz said.
Up to government to follow through on plan, CPAWS says
CPAWS said the announcement is an important step, but its value will depend on next steps.
“The focus now must be on implementation, particularly how the government advances the strategy’s three pillars: protecting nature, building Canada well by aligning development and economic priorities with nature, and valuing nature and mobilizing capital, including through work on natural capital accounting to better incorporate nature into long-term economic decision-making,” CPAWS said in a statement.
“The test now is whether these commitments lead to durable protection on the ground.”
Entitled A Force of Nature: Canada’s Strategy to Protect Nature , the $3.8-billion plan focuses on maintaining and protecting habitats, and aligning industrial frameworks with conservation efforts.
The framework aims to nearly double Canada’s terrestrial and marine conservation — part of larger efforts to fulfill multi-nation pledges made at the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference to protect 30% of the world’s lands and waters by 2030.
Liberals have poor track record meeting lofty environmental goals
This isn’t the first time a lack of follow-through has tanked government environmental efforts.
A cornerstone of the Justin Trudeau Liberals’ 2019 reelection platform was to plant two billion trees over the following decade — a means to fight climate change and reach net-zero emissions goals.
While over $3 billion was earmarked for this program, the plan saw itself scaled back over the years, with subsequent federal budgets whittling away money and resources to the point where the two billion tree pledge was cut in half, with the government only securing commitments to plant around 988 million trees, only 23% of which were ever planted.
Government staging more expensive photo ops, Tories allege
Not everyone, however, is convinced of the plan.
A statement from the Office of the Opposition Leader accused Carney Liberals of continuing Trudeau’s track records of making expensive and lofty promises that rarely amount to much.
“After 10 years of missing their own environmental targets, the Carney Liberals are pulling out the only trick they know — announcing a whole new bureaucracy to burn taxpayer money while continuing to get the same poor results,” the statement read.
“Just as they have always done when they fail, they set new targets to miss and plan for the next photo op.”