Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Minister, for taking part in our committee today.
Minister, in your opening remarks, you mentioned that alongside working to lower emissions, ECCC is protecting and conserving nature. More than $609 million in these estimates is devoted towards conserving nature, and over $289 million in contributions are going to the Canada nature fund. I know the nature fund has supported important projects like the Ryan River Conservation Area in my riding.
Areas like old growth forests in British Columbia and the boreal forest in Ontario provide important ecosystem services, and they're globally significant in acting as carbon sinks. I'm hoping that you could tell this committee more about our current efforts to conserve more of these important places.