A Kermode bear, better know as the Spirit bear, fishes in the Riordan River on Gribbell Island in the Great Bear Rainforest, B.C., in 2013.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
Canada’s protected natural areas help generate nearly $11-billion a year in gross domestic product, according to new research highlighting the economic impact of preserving the country’s vast natural assets.
In a white paper to be released on Wednesday, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society said tourism and related industries that rely on natural ecosystems support 150,000 jobs paying a total of $6.6-billion in wages and contribute $1.4-billion in tax revenue from visitors.
CPAWS, a national charity that promotes land and water protection, is releasing its economic research with the federal government yet to announce a new funding and implementation plan for a nature strategy it unveiled in June, 2024.
The strategy was developed to meet goals it agreed to in late 2022, when participants at a United Nations conference on biological diversity adopted a landmark plan to preserve and restore global biodiversity. That plan, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, includes a commitment to protect 30 per cent of lands and water.
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An official with Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin’s office did not give a date for when new funding could be announced. “The government remains committed to working together with partners and stakeholders on the whole-of-society approach that is needed to implement Canada’s nature commitments, and will announce next steps on the nature strategy soon,” spokesperson Eleni Armenakis said in an e-mail.
The CPAWS research aims to show that conservation has substantial economic impact along with the well-understood environmental and climate benefits, said Jason Wong, economic analyst at CPAWS and co-author of the white paper. Setting aside natural areas not only prevents their degradation, but produces financial returns, the paper says.
“Economic impact has really long been unclear or unrecognized. So this really for us was a way to take a hard look and to begin to provide some real figures to show this enormous impact that investing in nature has, not just on our environment, but also on our health and on our wallets as a country,” Mr. Wong said in an interview.
He pointed to the preservation of the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii on the West Coast. According to Coast Funds, First Nations investments there, supported by a $60-million economic development fund, were responsible for contributing $808-million to British Columbia’s GDP and generating $1.77-billion in gross economic output between 2008 and 2024.
The CPAWS analysis shows that, nationally, nature preservation accounted for $10.9-billion in GDP in the 2023-24 fiscal year. In addition, as public investment in protected areas increased by 50 per cent over the past 15 years, tax revenues generated by income from those areas increased by 250 per cent, it said. Meanwhile, the economic impact of new conservation areas has yet to be realized.
Federal funding for the current round of projects under the nature strategy is slated to expire at the end of next month, after the government last year reaffirmed its commitment to meeting the conservation goals. “So really, all eyes are on the government, the federal government, to show leadership and to demonstrate that,” Mr. Wong said.
In the leadup to the April, 2025, election, Prime Minister Mark Carney said nature is part of the Canadian identity and he pledged “bold new approaches to protect Canada’s natural heritage and defend it for future generations.” That included creating 10 new national parks and marine conservation areas and 15 new urban parks.
Since then, Ottawa’s major focus has been on pursing major industrial projects across the country, from mines to energy developments to ports, to kickstart the domestic economy in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war.
Mr. Wong said his group’s research underscores the importance of setting aside natural areas while the country goes about its industrial development push.
“Really, what our report is showing that investing in nature is not a trade-off, it’s a return on investment. And when we put money into this, we’re putting money back into our own pockets,” he said.