As our increasingly urban world grapples with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, the importance of a clean, healthy and sustainable environment has become self-evident. The science is clear: well-managed urban natural assets can boost public health, strengthen climate resilience, beautify neighbourhoods, and offer refugia to native wildlife. Hence the extraordinary efforts of IUCN Member Parks Canada to expand, improve and protect urban parks. IUCN Urban Alliance’s Eline van Remortel explains.
Parks Canada
Canada’s Dominion Parks Branch (later renamed Parks Canada) was established in 1911, becoming the world’s first national park service. The agency was tasked with protecting the country’s natural and cultural heritage while fostering public understanding and awareness of it. Today, Parks Canada protects 171 national historic sites, five marine conversation areas, and 48 national parks, including one urban park. Management is undertaken in partnership with indigenous peoples (Canada Parks Agency, 2021b).
Parks Canada is actively working to enhance the connectivity of the country’s protected areas while monitoring and conserving biodiversity to achieve ecological integrity (Parks Canada Agency, 2021b).
The agency is primarily responsible for delivering on the Canadian Government’s pledge to conserve 25% of the country’s land and seas by 2025, rising to 30% by 2030.
Urban National Parks
Recognising the multifarious benefits of urban nature, and indeed the growing proportion of Canadians living in cities (c. 72%), on 4 August 2021, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change launched a major programme to create a network of ‘urban national parks, extending the remit of Parks Canada to urban areas (Parks Canada Agency, 2021a). An investment of CAD 130 million has been earmarked for this new programme.
“More than a century ago, a system of national parks was envisioned, and today we are taking the next step with the creation of a national urban parks network. Expanding nature access and protection in our urban spaces is also critical in the fight against biodiversity loss and climate change. It also supports better mental wellbeing and equity in urban areas, where the vast majority of Canadians now live. The Government of Canada is proud to work with partners to create a network of national urban parks and ensure all Canadians have access to green spaces wherever they live, work and play.”
Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, responsible for Parks Canada (Government of Canada, 2021)
The urban national parks will contribute towards the country’s goal of protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030 while combatting biodiversity loss, buffering against climate impacts, and delivering a range of human health and wellbeing benefits (Government of Canada, 2021). The programme will enable local municipalities, communities, conservation organizations and indigenous people to identify opportunities for creating new or expanding existing urban parks.
Of Canada’s 48 protected national parks, currently, only one is situated in an urban environment: Rouge National Urban Park in Toronto. This urban national park is home to 1,700 species including 27 species at risk of extinction. Involving local communities, the creation of the park entailed securing 50 hectares of wetland and riverbank, planting 70,000 native trees and restoring 20 hectares of forest. Parks Canada manages the park in close cooperation with local farmers, indigenous people and citizens (Parks Canada Agency, 2019). The benefits of the park are cherished by the citizens of Toronto (CBC, 2021).
The precise details of the Urban National Parks Programme are still being refined, but Parks Canada has already entered into collaboration agreements with the municipalities of Winnipeg, Windsor, Manitoba, Halifax and Nova Scotia. It is considering further urban national parks in Edmonton, Colwood and Montreal (Government of Canada, 2021). Given the success of Rouge National Park, urban Canadians have every reason to be excited.
References
CBC. (2021). Parks Canada eyes new urban parks in 3 cities – and Saskatoon is one of them. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/parks-canada-agreements-municipalities-1.6140098
Environment and Climate change Canada (2018). Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators: Ecological integrity of national parks. Retrieved from www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/ecological-integrity-national-parks.html.
Government of Canada. (2021). Science and Conservation. Ecological integrity. Retrieved from https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/nature/science/conservation/ie-ei
Parks Canada Agency. (2011). Consolidated Guidelines for Ecological Integrity Monitoring in Canada’s National Parks. Retrieved from https://parks.berkeley.edu/sites/parks.berkeley.edu/files/Parks%20Canada%20EI_%20Monitoring%20Guidelines_ENG_FINAL_Sept29%20%281%29.pdf
Parks Canada Agency (2019). Rouge National Urban Park. Top 10 highlights of the Rouge National Urban Park Management Plan. Retrieved from https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/rouge/info/gestion-management/top10-plan%20.
Parks Canada Agency. (2021a). Government of Canada invests $130 million to work with partners to create a network of national urban parks. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2021/08/government-of-canada-invests-130-million-to-work-with-partners-to-create-a-network-of-national-urban-parks.html
Parks Canada Agency. (2021b). Parks Canada, 2021-22 Departmental Plan.
Rohwer, Y., & Marris, E. (2021). Ecosystem integrity is neither real nor valuable. Conservation Science and Practice, 3(4), e411.
Woodley, S. (2010). Ecological integrity and Canada’s national parks. In The George Wright Forum (Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 151-160). George Wright Society.