Biodiversity Caucus

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Latest Caucus Submission - February 9, 2024: Feedback on Canada’s 2030 National Biodiversity Strategy Milestone Document

On February 9, 2024, the Biodiversity Caucus submitted a collective response to Environment and Climate Change Canada's request for comments "Engaging Canadians on Canada's Biodiversity Strategy to 2030". This response reflects the comments and views expressed during a series of discussions on the biodiversity strategy organized by the caucus and attended by around 50 participants in total.

Submission to Environment and Climate Change Canada on Canada’s 2030 National Biodiversity Strategy Milestone Document

What is Canada’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy?

Canada’s 2030 Biodiversity Strategy will establish a vision for halting and reversing biodiversity loss in Canada, and will reflect Canada’s domestic priorities for biodiversity conservation. It will also guide how Canada implements the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework goals and targets domestically.

Working together in a whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach will be crucial to developing and implementing an ambitious 2030 Biodiversity Strategy to halt and reversing biodiversity loss in Canada by 2030, and put us on track to living in harmony with nature by 2050.

Mandate

The Biodiversity Caucus links local and global activities, public and private sectors, and nonprofit actors in their work. In accordance with the Caucus’s Memorandum of Understanding with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the goal is to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) by raising awareness and urgency, to build capacity, and to encourage proactive action to protect biodiversity.  The Caucus seeks to improve society’s understanding of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss, and to promote ways of meeting the challenges.

The Caucus is an apolitical advocate based on a democratic majority among members, for actions that improve ecological systems, biodiversity, and the rights of nature. The Caucus represents its members, as a union of interested parties, much as trade associations act in relation to the private sector. 

What We Do

The Caucus brings together RCEN Members to build partnerships between those seeking action on biodiversity and the need to halt the wide-scale destruction of Canada’s ecosystems. 

It also provides a voice for organizations and their members to offer advice to other national environmental organizations, to governments at multiple levels, the private sector, to international organizations (including the United Nations and its specialized agencies), and multilateral environmental agreement secretariats. 

The Caucus works from the definition of biological diversity in the CBD, with an understanding that biological diversity includes genetic diversity, species diversity - including humans - and ecosystem diversity. In doing so, the Caucus explicitly recognizes the importance of respecting and considering different belief systems and political views. 

Steering Committee

  • Frédéric Perron-Welch (Co-Chair)

    Individual Member, ON

  • Rosalind Warner (Co-Chair)

    British Columbia Council for International Cooperation, BC

  • Aleksandra Spasevski

    Canadian Youth Biodiversity Network, ON

  • Gretchen Fitzgerald

    Sierra Club Canada, NS

  • Julia Laforge

    Nature Canada, ON

  • Chantal Garneau

    Individual Member, ON

  • Shauna Doll

    Halifax Regional Municipality, NS

  • Leslie Adams

    Sierra Club Canada, ON

  • Larry McDermott

    Plenty Canada, ON

For questions or to join the caucus: outreach@rcen.ca

Caucus Projects