CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 provinces and territories are on board to help the federal government in its goal to halt land and water loss across the country.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault met with his counterparts in Ottawa on May 30 and said theySA国际影视传媒檙e all on the same page about conservation targets.

The Liberal government is leading a biodiversity strategy to protect 30 per cent of Canadian land and water by 2030. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the target in 2020 and Canada was among the countries which pushed successfully for more than 190 other countries to follow suit at a UN biodiversity conference in Montreal last December.

SA国际影视传媒淚tSA国际影视传媒檚 a necessary plan. Nature is what nurtures all life. It provides us with food, clear air and water, as well as protection from natureSA国际影视传媒檚 hazards,SA国际影视传媒� Guilbeault said on Friday.

Provincial, territorial leaders have agreed to collaborate with Ottawa and Indigenous Peoples moving forward because SA国际影视传媒渢hereSA国际影视传媒檚 no action on the environment in Canada without the full engagement of Indigenous leaders,SA国际影视传媒� said Guilbeault.

He said the provinces and territories have a critical role to play in reaching the target because of their significant authority over land use SA国际影视传媒� but some provinces will be able to conserve more land than others.

The global deal specifies that countries will collectively preserve 30 per cent of land and oceans, but some countries have either little land or little ocean that they can contribute to that total, Guilbeault said.

The same holds true for some provinces.

For example, Nova ScotiaSA国际影视传媒檚 land is 70 per cent private, so the province committed to preserving 20 per cent of its land, said Nova Scotia environment minister Tim Halman. British Columbia committed to preserving 30 per cent.

SA国际影视传媒淲e know that others will do more, and thatSA国际影视传媒檚 how collectively we will get to protecting at least 30 per cent of our lands and ocean by 2030,SA国际影视传媒� Guilbeault said, acknowledging there could be some bumps along the way.

More than half of the provincesSA国际影视传媒� ministers had skipped out the meeting with the feds and Indigenous leaders during their first face-to-face meeting on the topic since the UN conference in December.

Environment ministers from Saskatchewan, B.C., Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Northwest Territories attended the meeting.

The other provinces and territories sent their deputy ministers, while Alberta skipped it altogether due to its upcoming provincial election.

However, Guilbeault said heSA国际影视传媒檚 confident he will have AlbertaSA国际影视传媒檚 co-operation since their environment minister attended COP15 when the deal was struck in December.

SA国际影视传媒淚 have been talking with my Alberta counterparts before the election on some of these issues SA国际影视传媒� of nature protection and biodiversity protection, and ISA国际影视传媒檓 confident that regardless of the result of the election weSA国际影视传媒檒l have that collaboration,SA国际影视传媒� Guilbeault said.

Halman said thereSA国际影视传媒檚 a lot of momentum between Ottawa and the provinces on this issue, and heSA国际影视传媒檚 pleased to see everyone working together.

SA国际影视传媒淐anada is a community of communities and youSA国际影视传媒檙e seeing provinces and territories in their own way moving to conserve land and water and to protect biodiversity,SA国际影视传媒� Halman said Friday.

At the end of 2022 almost 14 per cent of CanadaSA国际影视传媒檚 land and freshwater and almost 15 per cent of marine areas and coastline were under some kind of conservation protection.

-By Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press