Environment committee  It depends where you are. In some municipalities, yes, that is truly the case. If you went into the northern landscapes and all the crown and public lands, which are owned and managed by crown authorities, they're pretty well in existence there, and there may even be more because

Environment committee  Yes, in the breeding landscapes. That would be the Prairies and southern Ontario, where we have the greatest presence of industry and significant economic activity. We still see ongoing losses, yes, generally speaking.

Environment committee  Yes, they are.

Environment committee  That's been our approach working with governments, but realizing that to have effective control, the communities have to support it. If we get too far ahead with legislation and these prescriptions and things, we find that the regulators and the communities they're made up of don

Environment committee  Yes, it is. Let's define “urban” a little bit. In downtown Ottawa, where it's heavily developed—paved—there's not a lot that you can do in those areas. But if you look at the footprint in the hinterlands surrounding urban areas, we're quite involved there. This project in Carp

Environment committee  Yes, educational centres.

Environment committee  Oh, definitely. Indeed, they are.

Environment committee  Yes, it is. Our conservation programs are based on science. Once we can target the best thing to do for wetlands, then we go and raise the money. A lot of it comes from the private sector and either the landowners themselves or from industry.

Environment committee  Yes, it does. That's an affinity program. It's like the credit card. A financial company says, “We'd like to approach Ducks Unlimited supporters and conservation-minded people with a mortgage opportunity. We'll give a great rate.” For every mortgage that they sign up, we get a

Environment committee  Yes.

Environment committee  There has been a significant and ongoing loss of wetlands across the developed landscapes in Canada. A lot of it happened when European settlement arrived, but it still is ongoing. The major causes are the expansion of urban areas and development, and the expansion of agriculture

Environment committee  Let's use your landscape in Quebec as an example. The continued loss of wetlands, with its impact on your community and your area, is largely legislated and regulated provincially. We are working extensively with the provincial governments across the country to create the value p

Environment committee  As I mentioned, in 1991 the federal government established its wetlands policy. The policy highlights the need to protect, conserve, and restore wetland on federal lands and in federal projects. Our recommendation is that we continue to apply that policy: that where there are fed

Environment committee  We have. Right across the country, at all levels, we talk about creating markets for ecological business services, and carbon is a very compelling opportunity in Canada. It certainly is. One of the first things we recommend is that we try to maintain the carbon that's in the grou

Environment committee  Yes. I think we visited every member of Parliament who would entertain us and we talked about the ecological benefits and values. Our research has identified $22 billion in the ecological business services associated with restored wetlands.