DU believes that a national conservation plan should drive 10 key outcomes. First of all, a culture of conservation is created, instilling a sense of value, pride, engagement, and responsibility in all Canadians, including the traditional conservation community as well as new conservation agents such as young, new, and urban Canadians.
Second, negative habitat trends are stopped and reversed by directing impacts away from sensitive areas, mitigating impacts that are unavoidable, and restoring areas that have been lost or degraded.
Third, Canada meets and exceeds existing domestic commitments such as the Species at Risk Act, and the Fisheries Act, as well as international agreements such as the migratory birds acts and multilateral agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Aichi targets.
Fourth, the Canadian economy benefits directly from conservation efforts. Jobs are created by restoration and stewardship programs. Tourism and outdoor recreation sectors thrive. Businesses increase their market share through green branding and eco-certification, and farmers are compensated for conserving natural capital.
Fifth, goals, plans, and targets are effective at all levels. A science-based approach is used to plan, implement, and monitor conservation efforts and resources to ensure fiscal efficacy.
Sixth, an effective tracking, monitoring, and reporting system is developed. This national system tracks habitat outcomes on both public and private lands, and reports progress on national conservation plan implementation.
Seventh, conservation actions are better coordinated. Economies of scale are realized through partnerships and shared resources, better coordination between different levels of government, and more collaboration within the conservation community.
Eighth, existing tools are evaluated and new tools are developed. In some cases, this means continuing to do what we are already doing well. Programs such as the North American waterfowl management plan or NAWMP, the natural areas conservation program, the ecological gifts program, and the environmental farm plan are all highly effective, well-established conservation tools that should be maintained and expanded. In other cases, we will require new tools, particularly on private land and on working landscapes.
Ninth, effective funding models sustain long-term activities and programs. This means continued support for existing programs that are effective, including those mentioned above. This also means designing new funding models, particularly ones that use private sector capacity. New approaches should target innovative cost-share models and new incentives to encourage conservation on private lands.
Tenth, strong long-term partnerships are forged. By drawing ideas from successful models such as NAWMP, new conservation partnerships for planning, implementation, funding, and monitoring can be developed between all conservation agents in Canada.
It's clear that we cannot manage what we cannot measure. Monitoring and evaluation metrics that are aligned with plan goals will be critical to this plan's success. From a conservation standpoint, two types of metrics are crucial. Number one is habitat metrics, including habitat inventories such as wetland inventories that can be used to calculate a baseline, and then monitor habitat change and conservation impacts over time. Number two is fish and wildlife metrics, including surveys of populations in need of conservation as well as factors that threaten them, such as invasive species and climate change.
These two metrics will provide the clearest indication of progress toward the plan's overarching goals. We can suggest other metrics when we have more time for detailed discussion.
In closing, DU hopes the national conservation plan gains the full support of all conservation partners in Canada and serves to drive real, profound, targeted, and measurable actions and results. We challenge the Government of Canada to continue showing strong leadership and support, including funding, for the creation and implementation of this plan. As the old adage from one of our founding DU leaders goes, conservation without action and funding is just conversation.
With that, Mr. Chairman, DU looks forward to a continued role in this process and sincerely thanks the committee for the opportunity to appear before you today. We are drafting a short report and supporting materials that expand on some of our thoughts, and we will provide that report to the clerk of the committee for distribution to committee members. We would be happy to follow up with individual members if they have any questions on the material provided.
Thank you.