Environment committee  Quality over quantity, yes. It appears that just in terms of designating very large-scale MPAs, it's certainly one option to reach the Aichi target, but we really have to consider that the MPAs have to be well connected, they have to be representative, and they have to occur within our ocean areas from coast to coast to coast.

Environment committee  In terms of ecological integrity, referring to a national marine conservation areas example, one of the suggestions that we have would be to speed up the designation process for NMCAs. On average, it takes about 20 years to designate an NMCA. For ecological integrity, we have a strong view that you would need to restrict extractive uses.

Environment committee  I think our conservation vision is to have a steady focus on achieving our conservation objectives, such as our Aichi target 11 to protect 10% of our coastal and marine areas by 2020, but that's just part of the process. We must also have a longer-term vision for a much broader level of protection.

Environment committee  Well, Canada has done a lot of work in identifying ecologically and biologically significant areas, and those areas, called EBSAs, are really the foundation of any marine protected area planning process. In terms of conservation value, I think that's certainly the first step. I'm sorry.

Environment committee  Absolutely. We are a strong advocate for continuing the designation process for all existing candidate sites for marine protected areas and national marine conservation areas. We are a strong advocate for protection within the Lancaster Sound proposed NMCA. We are working on sites that we have a particular interest in.

Environment committee  Yes. My comments here today relate to marine protected areas, so I'll frame my answer within that context. In terms of coordinating efforts, I do believe that the federal government has to come together and take on leadership in developing a network of marine protected areas and in respecting the different regulatory tools that are available to designate marine protected areas under the Oceans Act and the National Marine Conservation Areas Act, and also with Environment Canada in terms of the migratory bird areas.

Environment committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Sigrid Kuehnemund. I'm the lead specialist for oceans at WWF-Canada. With me today is Kimberley Dunn, our manager for national oceans governance. We're very excited to be here today to contribute to your study on protected areas. For half a century the World Wildlife Fund has worked to protect the future of nature.