Natural powers

When it comes to fighting climate change, habitats themselves can be critical allies

- BRIAN BANKS

The 2019 federal election campaign might have been the first time that many Canadians heard the term “natural climate solutions.” It came in a pledge by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invest $3 billion in those solutions to “conserve and restore” lands across the country as part of the government’s platform to fight climate change.

If you were one of the uninitiated, rest easy. Among policy­ makers, awareness that land conservation is one of the most powerful and economical tools available for reducing green­ house gas emissions has only recently caught hold.

An important catalyst was a 2017 study that found natural climate solutions — defined as the practice of avoiding or sequestering carbon emissions by conserving, restoring or better managing forests, grasslands, wetlands, and agricultural lands — can deliver more than one­third of the global reductions needed by 2030 to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.