December 1, 2022, traditional unceded Algonquin Territory/Ottawa, Ontario – The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) will attend the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to encourage Canada and the international community to land an ambitious new global deal to save nature. CPAWS is also urging federal, provincial and territorial governments to advance conservation action in Canada by supporting Indigenous Peoples’ land and ocean protection efforts, and developing a comprehensive plan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in Canada.

“All eyes are on Canada during COP15. We will be there to encourage our federal, provincial, and territorial governments to demonstrate global leadership by advancing actions, commitments, investments, and agreements that make possible our country’s promise to protect at least 30% of land and ocean in Canada by 2030 by supporting Indigenous-led conservation.” says Sandra Schwartz, National Executive Director of CPAWS.

As part of its presence at COP15, CPAWS is hosting, co-hosting, or attending a number of events, and focusing on profiling Indigenous-led conservation initiatives. Details are below.

The CPAWS delegation includes representatives from the National office and its 13 regional chapters, as well as representatives of First Nations from across Canada. These delegates will attend meetings with sub-national, national, and international government representatives, organize and participate in panels and events, and meet with other local, regional, national, and global conservation groups. We have spokespeople from the CPAWS delegation including representatives from our national office and chapters across Canada available for media interviews. Our Indigenous partner nations are also available to speak about their exciting projects.

Events:

CPAWS is also promoting the Nature Canada Bus Tour, taking place across Canada between November 26 and December 7. The NatureBus has been touring around the country to collect Canadians’ messages of hope for a plan to restore nature. These messages will be delivered to the Prime Minister at COP15 on December 7.

This advisory is available on our media webpage, and will be updated with new information as it becomes available.

Throughout COP15, CPAWS delegates, speakers, and representatives are available for media interviews to comment on events and respond to COP15 or government announcements. Contact information for interested media can be found below.

CPAWS participation at COP15 has been supported with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

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About CPAWS

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is Canada’s only charity dedicated to the protection of public land, freshwater and ocean with a strong national and regional presence across the country. Working in a way that respects the sovereignty and leadership of Indigenous nations, we are focused on conserving nature to respond to the dual crises of accelerated biodiversity loss and climate change. Our vision is that at least half of land, freshwater and ocean in Canada is permanently protected to sustain nature and people for current and future generations. For more information about CPAWS and the work we do to safeguard Canada’s natural heritage, visit cpaws.org. Join our community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Donate today. Take action.

For more information or to set up an interview, please contact:

Tracy Walden
National Director, Communications and Development, CPAWS
twalden@cpaws.org
613-915-4857

Jennifer Scott
National Manager, Communications, CPAWS
jscott@cpaws.org
613-569-7226, ext. 234

Kate Toogood
We Can’t Wait Media Relations
kate.toogood@gmail.com
780-914-5449

Charlène Daubenfeld
Communications Director, CPAWS Québec
communications@snapquebec.org   
514-378-3880

Lauren Terbasket,
Lower Similkameen Indian Band
250-499-1940

Gwen Bridge
Lower Similkameen Indian Band
gwen@gwenbridge.com
250-826-2265

For interviews, contact:
Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 5, 2020

Traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples/Vancouver, BC — The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, British Columbia (CPAWS-BC) is applauding a new initiative to hire young people into conservation jobs in BC. These new jobs, announced today by Environment Minister George Heyman, will help to safeguard nature across the province. 

“We’re happy to see more conservation jobs being created for young people at a time when our park system needs more support,” says Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner with CPAWS-BC.

“In the short term, these new jobs will help manage the impacts of increasing visitation on the outdoor places we love so much, by addressing long standing capacity issues within BC Parks,” she adds.

BC’s provincial parks were forced to shut down this spring due to concerns with understaffing and overcrowding, following a recent budget cut to operations earlier this year. Decades of underfunding to BC Parks has created a concerning shortage of staff as well as a significant backlog of maintenance issues and major delays in management planning for parks. 

“These new temporary positions will help provide much-needed capacity to support overworked park rangers, which will better safeguard nature and improve people’s experiences in the outdoors,” says Ball. 

“We hope to see continued investment in nature-based jobs and a commitment to a longer-term capacity increase for BC Parks, as part of the overall strategy to recover the province’s economy,” she adds. 

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For interviews, contact:

Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, BC Chapter
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24

Resources

BC Government Media Release: Program offers young people work experience with BC Parks, COS (August 5, 2020)

About CPAWS-BC:

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – British Columbia Chapter (CPAWS-BC) protects wilderness in every corner of BC and deep into the ocean. CPAWS-BC supports the creation of large, well-managed, connected protected areas where native plants and animals thrive, now and forever; and where people and communities can live off the land and ocean without impacting the ability of future generations to do the same.

In the past 50+ years, CPAWS has played a lead role in protecting over half a million square kilometres – an area bigger than New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador put together.

For interviews, contact:
Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24

New report highlights opportunity to put nature protection at the heart of economic recovery in Canada

For Immediate Release

July 15, 2020

Unceded Coast Salish Territory/Vancouver, BC — A new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) recommends that nature protection is put at the heart of Canada’s COVID-19 recovery strategies. The report highlights the enormous potential of BC’s provincial parks to provide accessible and affordable outdoor activities, and outlines urgent challenges posed by decades of underfunding.

“It’s become very clear that BC’s parks are essential to our health and well-being. Safe, accessible outdoor recreation in parks is a proven way to boost mental health and reduce stress,” says Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner with CPAWS-BC. 

“Unfortunately, decades of funding for BC’s parks has left communities with inequitable access to nature, and continues to put wildlife at risk,” she says.

The BC Parks budget was cut by 4% this year, exacerbating issues such as understaffing across the province. This has restricted or cut core functions such as monitoring and enforcement, research, and education.

The provincial and federal governments are making decisions on spending to restart the economy and recover from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. CPAWS-BC is advocating for an investment of economic recovery funding into BC’s parks to better support the needs of communities across the province.

“This is our chance to get it right. We know that nature conservation is a driver of economic growth and provides essential community benefits that help build a resilient global economy,” says Ball.

”Now more than ever, we need to invest in these places so that our communities will be more resilient and better supported in the long run,” adds Ball.

CPAWS-BC’s recommendations to the Government of British Columbia:

• Invest immediately in BC Parks, increasing staff capacity for visitor management, ecological monitoring, and management planning to better recognize the critical role that parks play in supporting our health, our communities, and our environment.
• Support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives that enable reconciliation with Indigenous nations, protection and recovery of species at risk, and build sustainable long-term jobs in rural and remote communities

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For interviews, contact:
Tori Ball, Terrestrial Campaigner
tori@cpawsbc.org
(604) 685-7445 x24

Download Media Release PDF

Additional Resource:

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. (July 15 2020). Healthy Nature Healthy People. https://cpawsbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CPAWS-Parks-Report-2020-ENG.pdf

The 2019 Greater Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) season sparks action and changes the way we see the world. CPAWS-BC is thrilled to be supporting VIFF this year as a community partner of Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles’  “The Great Green Wall”.

“The Great Green Wall” highlights one of the world’s most ambitious initiatives to tackle climate change. 11 African nations began The Great Green Wall project in 2007 to plant 8,000 kilometers of trees and vegetation across the Sahel, a semi-arid area that stretches the entire width of Africa, south of the Sahara desert.

The film is guided by Malian musician and activist Inna Modja. Inna travels to Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Niger and Ethiopia meeting people most affected by climate change and land degradation. Human activity and mismanagement of land and ocean resources is at the root of climate change and loss of biodiversity, in the Sahel region and all around the globe. The Green Wall offers a nature-based solution to natural resource scarcity, desertification and drought, conflict, migration and community revitalization issues. The project is designed to restore land depleted by agricultural overuse and grazing. Once complete, it will restore food and livelihood for communities. The wall could absorb some 250 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Human activity and mismanagement of land and ocean resources is at the root of climate change and loss of biodiversity. The project is designed to restore land depleted by agricultural overuse and grazing. Once complete, it will restore food and livelihood for communities. The wall could absorb some 250 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

I am at a loss for words. It’s the social, the economic, political…it is everything .

– VIFF film screening attendee

The wall itself is not linear or uniform. It is more like a patchwork of forest clusters sheltering life. It is an interconnected network of life that young people can depend on for generations to come. And the stories shared by those living along the Great Green Wall are about more than revitalizing desert landscape. They are about desperation, courage, and the hope for a brighter future.

Stories like this play out across the globe as the fight against climate change continues. Here at home, BC will experience a squeeze as our landscape and ocean morph with the climate. Flooding, storm surges, and rampant fires will displace people and wildlife from their homes. BC is along an escape route and will become a safe haven for new troves of species and communities seeking refuge from the impacts of climate change. — which will have unforeseeable impacts of its own.

The clusters of trees and plants along the Sahel breathe life back into the local communities. Things are, arguable, not quite so dire in BC, but we need to protect remaining large intact areas of wilderness for nature — including humans — to have a fighting chance.

Climate change is not coming, it is here. During an evening screening of “The Great Green Wall,” the whole audience held their breath watching a time-lapse of Lake Chad shrink by an estimated 90 per cent in a mere 50 years. It was a stark reminder of how much has already been lost. Science shows that  we have only 12 years to curb our carbon emissions and keep irreparable global temperature rise at bay. We need bold, immediate action to protect habitats and ecological hotspots.

Nature needs us now. We are on the front lines of a nature emergency. The Amazon rainforest is burning. Declines in salmon populations risk cut food supply to endangered southern resident killer whales and grizzly bear populations. Indigenous leaders and scientists call for support to protect BC forests and critical caribou habitat.

Without biodiversity, life simply could not exist. BC has the greatest biodiversity in Canada, yet we have the most species at risk and our ecosystems are collapsing.

– VIFF film screening attendee

There is still hope for nature in BC. The Serengeti of the north in Kaska Dena territory and promise for protection of grasslands – one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems right here in BC’s South Okanagan-Similkameen offer large-scale nature protection. Interconnected networks of marine protected areas through the Great Bear Sea and rich depths of the Deepsea Oasis offshore of Vancouver Island reveal newly discovered and integral species along the pacific coast.

CPAWS-BC is dedicated to the protection of our public land and water, and ensuring our parks are managed to protect the nature within them. With help from people like you, we advocate for the creation of a patchwork of life support systems across the province. The next step will be to connect the dots with wildlife corridors and connected pathways of protected areas.

BC is a special place for animals and people.

We need your help to ensure protection for these places. We depend on nature for food, shelter, healing, and recreation. Our vision is to establish large, intact areas of wilderness on land and in the ocean that supports all life to not only survive, but thrive.

“BC needs a healthy environment for everyone – wildlife, nature, humans and biodiversity is vital for a stable and sustainable environment

-VIFF fan

The 2019 federal election will play a pivotal role in Canada’s response to the climate emergency and decline in nature here.

We each have a role to play in ensuring protection of biodiversity and the vitality of future communities. Environmental issues do not stand alone. Ecosystems must be resilient and adaptable to nurture nature amidst a rapidly evolving world.

Your vote for nature on October 21st helps leverage nature-based solutions and partnership between provincial, federal and Indigenous governments in response to climate change.

VIFF film screening and events September 26-October 11, 2019. Tickets and more information at WWW.VIFF.ORG