How much nature can address climate change depends on us

On Dec. 11, the Government of Canada released its renewed climate plan. As a young person who has been working in national and international climate action and conservation for the past four years, I was excited to see nature—more specifically, “nature-based climate solutions”—recognized as a necessary part of climate action. But the plan has some critical shortcomings in recognizing nature that must be addressed if we are to advert global climate crisis. Let’s be perfectly clear: nature has an enormous role in addressing the climate crisis. Nature (on land and in the ocean) absorbs more than half of all carbon emissions released annually by human activities, like driving gas-powered cars and burning coal and gas for electricity. Protecting and enhancing these natural “carbon sinks” is a critical part of addressing climate crisis. And at first glance, the inclusion of nature in the new climate plan seems substantive: forests, wetlands, grasslands, peatlands, and coastal ecosystems are all mentioned. But upon digging further, there is only one specific policy commitment regarding nature-based climate solutions: $3.16-billion to plant two billion trees by 2030. Overemphasizing tree planting in climate action is not uniquely Canada’s problem, but it is a problem, nonetheless. Planting new trees is undoubtably an important piece of the climate puzzle, but it’s not a silver bullet, nor should it be the first nature-based climate solution we turn to. Scientists around the world have criticized the weight given to tree planting as a climate solution for overestimating the amount of carbon that can be absorbed by planting trees, and for failing to take into account the limited amount of land suited for planting. Not to mention that our two billion new trees will not fare well in a world that is two or three degrees warmer. The remaining funding for nature is earmarked for ecosystem restoration ($631-million) and agricultural initiatives ($98-million). Exactly what these programs will look like and how success will be measured remains uncertain. If we are to treat the role of nature as a climate solution with the nuance it needs, we need to get specific about what these actions look like beyond planting trees. First, the climate plan needs to lead with conserving nature. Despite text about the importance of protecting nature, the climate plan is short on details (and dollars) about where and how to protect 30 per cent of Canada’s lands and oceans by 2030. There is nothing about protecting irreplaceable old-growth forests, even though they store more carbon than newly planted forests, are more resilient to climate impacts, and are increasingly threatened by logging. Second, the lack of a funding commitment to support Indigenous-led conservation, including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) and Indigenous Guardians programs, is a significant gap. Land stewardship, led by Indigenous peoples, is necessary for any nature-based climate solution to be effective and is integral to upholding Indigenous rights. Some progress has been made since the government began investing in the development of IPCAs through the Canada Nature Fund, but there is so much more work to be done, and that work needs to take priority. Indigenous rights and human well-being, along with biodiversity, are not “co-benefits”; they are non-negotiable. Finally, the hard truth is that protecting and restoring nature won’t be enough if we continue to extract and burn fossil fuels. And yet that’s where the climate plan is the weakest. The government’s promise to exceed the current emission reduction target of 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 was met with a new, projected target of at least … 32 per cent. This simply isn’t good enough. Not for ecosystems that are vulnerable to the impacts of worsening climate crisis. Not for young people like me or the generations that will follow. And it’s not good enough for the people on the frontlines of climate crisis right now who live on the coasts, low-lying islands, and in the Arctic. Canada cannot just plant our way out of this. We must also prioritize conservation that upholds Indigenous rights, while rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels. Nature can be our greatest ally in the fight against the climate crisis, but only if people play our part, too. Marina Melanidis is the founder and partnerships director at Youth4Nature, a Top 25 Under 25 Environmentalist, and a Top 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leader. The Hill Times