Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for inviting Ducks Unlimited Canada to contribute to the committee's study on federal protected areas and conservation objectives.
Ducks Unlimited Canada is very happy to be here today in its role as the leader in wetland conservation in Canada, as well as in its role as a key partner in the management of several federal protected areas that rely on healthy wetlands.
My name is Jim Brennan. I am director of government affairs for Ducks Unlimited Canada. I'm also the co-chair of the Green Budget Coalition. Joining me today is Dr. Mark Gloutney, director of regional operations for the eastern region of Canada.
We're pleased to provide you with a brief leave-behind PowerPoint presentation that provides you with a greater level of detail. I invite you to review this document at your convenience, and send us any comments or questions, should they arise.
Our mission at Ducks Unlimited Canada is to conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. By focusing on habitat conservation, we're also able to preserve and restore wetlands for their life-sustaining functions for Canadian society.
Some of you may already know that Canada is home to almost one-quarter of the world’s wetlands. These wetlands provide Canadians with critical ecosystem services, including carbon capture and storage, water filtration services, flood attenuation, and green jobs, to name a few. Despite the clear economic and ecological values provided by wetlands, 70% have already been lost or degraded within settled areas of this country.
Surprisingly the loss continues as we are losing more than 29,000 acres of wetlands each and every year. Despite the work of organizations like Ducks Unlimited Canada, who have conserved and restored millions of acres of habitat, governments and conservation organizations cannot keep pace with this rate of habitat destruction.
Today we wish to raise three priorities with you. First is investing in the management of existing national wildlife areas and migratory bird sanctuaries. Second is finalizing the accounting guidelines for the conservation activities across Canada, so they may fully contribute to our national inventory of conserved lands, and third is supporting land-use planning initiatives, in which many indigenous peoples and environmental groups are actively engaged to advance the protection of large areas of ecological and social significance.
I will now hand the mic over to my colleague, Dr. Mark Gloutney, who will outline his experience with NWAs.