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A Natural Climate Solution: Peatlands

In a world that desperately needs climate solutions, we cannot afford to overlook protecting one of the world’s greatest natural tools to fight climate change: the vast carbon-rich peatlands across Canada.

NEWLY RELEASED: A recording of our presentation on the importance of peatlands at the COP-26 Global Peatland Pavilion in Glasglow.

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This is our decision decade

The next 10 years will be our decision decade for nature and our relationship with the planet. Dan Kraus, Director of National Conservation is excited and inspired by what WCS Canada does and what WCS Canada is going to accomplish in 2022!

Northern Mountains and Yukon

Wolverine

Big picture conservation solutions

Freshwater Fish

WCS Canada scientists get their boots muddy studying wildlife and wild places across Canada in hopes of spurring action to address our growing biodiversity crisis.

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Bats

Wild Places

Arctic Mammals

Ontario Northern Boreal

Our work to save wildlife

Blog

An Ever Green story about a massive climate solution

“Ever Green,” a newly published book about Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet, is a mantra of hope in our global crisis of climate disruption that explains the opportunity and need to keep these forests intact.

External Blog

Digging deep on costs and benefits of mining in Yukon

The Yukon Government has embarked on a review of the rules around mining in the territory. WCS Canada weighed in on a comprehensive set of recommendations urging the government to create a framework that better acknowledges the significant ecological impacts of mining.

Latest Publications

Developing a national level evidence-based toolbox for addressing freshwater biodiversity threats
Reid et al. (incl. O'Connor, C.M.). 2022. Biological Conservation 269:109533

Coupling validation effort with in situ bioacoustic data improves estimating relative activity and occupancy for multiple species with cross-species misclassifications
Stratton, C. et al (incl. Lausen, C. and Rae, J. ). 2022. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 2022;00:1-16.

Quantifying firebrand production and transport using the acoustic analysis of in-fire cameras.
Quantifying firebrand production and transport using the acoustic analysis of in-fire cameras. Thompson, D. K. et al. (incl. Yip, D.A.) Fire Technology

Activity, heart rate, and energy expenditure of a cold-climate mesocarnivore, the Canada lynx
Menzies, A. et al. (incl. Seguin, J.). 2022 Canadian Journal of Zoology

Evaluating ecosystem services for agricultural wetlands: a systematic review and meta‑analysis
Evaluating ecosystem services for agricultural wetlands: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Eric, A. et al. (incl. Mantyka-Pringle, C.) Wetlands Ecology and Management

WCS Canada newsletter

WCS Canada's newsletters have stories about our scientists in the field, interesting insights about wildlife and important conservation alerts.

Read our latest e-News: We can't undermine natural climate solutions

Latest policy comments

WCS Canada Comments _Science & Research Parliamentary Committee Submission re Study on Top Talent, Research and Innovation_April 2022
WCS Canada provides comments to the Science & Research Parliamentary Committee regarding their Study on Top talent, research and innovation. This letter highlights the critical role of civil society scientists and the limited opportunities currently available to them through the Tri-Council pathways to advance science partnerships. We share some of the current opportunities and challenges we face in advancing scientific research to improve conservation outcomes that address government commitments and priorities for the environment and Indigenous Peoples. Finally, we provide recommendations on ways Canada can more fully integrate civil society science as crucial components of the “research ecosystem” in this country as a means of encouraging and retaining top talent on research and innovation.

WCS Canada Comments _Proposal for a Conservation Agreement for Boreal Caribou in Ontario -- ERO 019-4995 _ March 2022
WCS Canada provides comments on the Proposal for a Conservation Agreement for Boreal Caribou in Ontario -- ERO 019-4995. This includes a background and historical perspective on critical habitat protection for boreal caribou in Ontario and comments on three sections of the ERO notice: 1) Context 2) General Elements of the Agreement and 3) Table of Conservation Measures. We emphasize the importance of considering forest management activities over time as a key risk to boreal caribou and incorporating that in conservation measures.

Summary of Key Issues with the Draft Agreement to Conduct a Regional Assessment in the Ring of Fire Area and Recommendations
In 2021, the Government of Canada agreed to undertake a Regional Assessment (RA) of the Ring of Fire, an area of world‐class mineral potential located within the globally important Hudson Bay Lowland, under the federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA) at the request of WCS Canada and others. The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), in negotiation with the province of Ontario, developed a draft Agreement setting out the scope and form of the RA. As our comments below make clear, the draft Agreement fails to capitalize on the opportunity to undertake proactive planning for an area that is recognized internationally as a priority region for action on the global climate and biodiversity crises, and is the homeland of First Nations who are the only population living in the region. WCS Canada scientists have been actively working to understand the critical ecosystems and the species and services they support as well as approaches to conserving them, including with First Nation communities, for the past 15 years. We have applied our scientific knowledge of the area to inform our assessment and recommendations on the draft Agreement for the RA.

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Photo credits: Banner | Susan Morse © News | Mountain landscape: Susan Morse ©, River: Maitland Conservation Authority ©, Caribou: Don Reid © WCS Canada, Peatlands: Mike Oldham | Bat with WNS © NPS/Creative Commons License | Mosaic: Northern Mountains: Hilary Cooke © WCS Canada, Wolverine: Susan Morse ©. Brook Trout: Engbretson Underwater Photography ©, Bat: Cory Olson ©, Wild Places: Hilary Cooke © WCS Canada, Ontario River: Constance O'Connor © WCS Canada, Caribou: Susan Morse © | Black-capped chickadee © Malcolm Boothroyd | Yukon mining: Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle © WCS Canada.