Protecting and restoring nature is vital in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change. The Government of Canada is committed to safeguarding species at risk and the habitats they depend on to ensure a resilient and thriving environment, and healthy, prosperous communities for current and future generations.
Today, Adam van Koeverden, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced up to $6.2 million in funding through the Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk. This funding will support 38 conservation projects across Canada, led by communities, individuals, and non-government organizations, to help recover species at risk in their local areas.
The Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk plays an important role in the implementation of the Species at Risk Act through the conservation of species at risk. In Ontario, 12 projects will receive up to $1.3 million, including these Monarch stewardship projects:
- Nature Conservancy of Canada will continue to steward habitats of species at risk, including the Monarch and the Eastern Whip-poor-will in the Rice Lake Plains Area. The project will be expanded by an additional 6.2 hectares and extended by a year to include prescribed burns, aiming at enhancing native plant diversity and habitat complexity.
- Rural Lambton Stewardship Network will build on its ongoing work to recover the Monarch and the Grasshopper Sparrow in southwestern Ontario. This will involve the creation of an additional 116 hectares of tallgrass prairie, providing foraging and breeding habitat for these species.
Through close collaboration with partners, the Government of Canada is making significant strides in the protection of species at risk and their habitats. These efforts align with the recently launched 2030 Nature Strategy, a national plan to implement the ambitious nature protection goals under the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed upon at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Montréal, in December 2022.
