BUILDING ON PAST SUCCESS

Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy, 2023 builds on the positive efforts of the 2005 and 2011 versions.

The Ontario Biodiversity Council led the renewal process, with support provided by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

The renewal team used several sources to ensure the strategy is based on the best available knowledge. These included the State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2020 report, the Global Post-2020 Biodiversity Framework, priority actions identified during the 2021 Ontario Biodiversity Summit, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Edinburgh Declaration and others.

Broad public engagement helped make sure that many different perspectives were considered, including seeking feedback from a wide geographic and demographic range. People were invited to submit their comments using an online workbook and by participating in a free webinar. Many Council members hosted information sessions to encourage and collect feedback.

More than 1,100 comments were considered following the public engagement, and the draft mission, vision, goals, targets and actions were updated to incorporate what we heard.

We hope the strategy will:

build on the good work already being done
raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity
coordinate activities through collaboration and partnerships, and
support and encourage the efforts of communities and individuals to conserve Ontario’s biodiversity.

To conserve biodiversity we have to address ways that humans destroy and degrade it, in Ontario and around the globe.

A strategy for all of us

To successfully protect biodiversity, we need a ‘whole of society approach’. This means all of us — the private sector, non-governmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, individuals, and all levels of government, work together to implement this strategy.

By finding unique ways to collaborate, and by creating new partnerships to focus on common goals, we can address the causes of biodiversity loss and begin to reverse the damage already done.

URGENCY TO ACT

We can’t live without nature’s help; and nature can’t live without our help. We must protect our planet’s biodiversity to safeguard the future of our ecosystems, our climate, our health — and our humanity – United Nations Foundation

Biodiversity sustains us and enriches our lives — and we need to protect it.

Globally, we are losing biodiversity at an alarming rate. It is estimated that wildlife populations around the world have declined by 69 per cent since 1970, and up to one million species are threatened by extinction (WWF Living Planet Report 2022).

Scientists around the world are calling for immediate, transformative, and urgent actions to address the causes of biodiversity loss, climate change, and ecosystem degradation. It will require changes on many fronts including a more integrated response to achieve the multiple benefits we seek for biodiversity, climate and human well-being and prosperity. We need to break down the silos of our conventional approaches.

In Ontario, we are losing biodiversity faster than we are conserving it (SOBR 2021). Some of our efforts to protect and restore biodiversity are having a positive impact, but more effort is needed to reverse this trend.

Biodiversity loss isn’t just an environmental issue. It impacts our families, our neighbourhoods, our economy, our workplaces, and our physical and mental health. It impacts food security, the climate, the air we breathe and the water we drink.

We know that most people in Ontario understand what biodiversity is, and recognize its importance to their lives. It’s now time to turn that awareness into urgent action, to protect what sustains us.

Let us know what you think!
We’d love to hear from you.

or send us an email at info@ontariobiodiversitycouncil.ca