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How Indigenous stewardship and long-term financing are protecting lands and waters for generations
Indigenous peoples are recognized worldwide as leaders in environmental stewardship. In Canada, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are safeguarding some of the world’s most ecologically diverse and intact ecosystems.
From the Pacific coast to the boreal forests of the North and the rugged tundra of the Arctic, three recently launched Indigenous-led conservation initiatives are transforming long-term investments into large-scale, lasting protection for nature and people.
These initiatives support UN Declaration Action Plan Measures Shared Priority 42, which is about marine Indigenous protected and conserved areas, as well as Shared Priority 47, which is about Indigenous leadership in conservation through initiatives such as Project Finance for Permanence.
On British Columbia’s north coast, 17 First Nations have come together to steward one of the most ecologically rich cold-water marine environments in the world. The Great Bear Sea (Northern Shelf Bioregion) initiative builds on Indigenous knowledge and science to advance marine conservation, including by restoring salmon populations and protecting kelp forests, which are important ecosystems that support marine life, help store carbon, sustain coastal food systems, and more. It also supports coastal communities, whose cultures, economies, and food systems are deeply tied to the health of these waters.
In the Northwest Territories, one of the world’s largest Indigenous-led land conservation initiatives is safeguarding lands, waters and cultures for generations. Through NWT: Our Land for the Future, more than 20 Indigenous governments and organizations are advancing land conservation by strengthening stewardship of protected areas and creating new ones, like the three recently identified by the Tłıc̨hǫ Government, while supporting Guardians programs, species monitoring, language camps, and more.
In Nunavut, the Inuit-led SINAA initiative is helping conserve vast marine ecosystems and future land-based protected and conserved areas in the Qikiqtani region. Grounded in Inuit knowledge and stewardship, the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the communities it represents are receiving funding to strengthen and expand the Nauttiqsuqtiit (Inuit Guardians) across Qikiqtani communities, providing training, employment and resources to those who care for the land and sea.
K’ahsho Got’ine Guardians water monitoring
Left to right: Joseph Rabaska, Derek Shae and John Tobac
Photo credit: Jordan Melograna
These Project Finance for Permanence initiatives are grounded in unprecedented partnerships between Indigenous peoples, the Government of Canada, provincial and territorial governments, and philanthropic organizations.
Recommended articles:
- Learn how the Great Bear Sea PFP is safeguarding coastal ecosystems and communities in this article from The Nature Conservancy.
- Find out how NWT: Our Land for the Future is conserving lands and waters in the Northwest Territories in this CBC story and in this update from NWT: Our Land for the Future.
- Read about the Qikiqtani Region’s new Inuit-led conservation initiative, SINAA, and how it is protecting the land, sea, ice and ways of life in this WWF article.
Contributed by: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Department of Justice Canada
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