Quebec City Declaration – United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Preamble

Ecosystem restoration is a key component in achieving a sustainable future for the benefit of nature including people. The United Nations (UN) Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021– 2030 (the Decade) aims at increasing efforts to restore degraded ecosystems and halt further biodiversity loss, with the ultimate goal of global ecosystem revival and reversing loss of nature.

As a UN Member State, Canada has committed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030 through the 2030 Nature Compact, the Bonn Challenge and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (K-M GBF). In the latter, Target 2 calls on signatories, of which Canada is one, to ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective restoration, to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity. To achieve all those promises to the UN, Canada must mobilize and convene scientific, policy and civil society knowledge holders to develop plans to prevent the loss, fragmentation, and degradation of ecosystems and to restore significant areas of degraded ecosystems. Canada has already engaged with many public and private sector to initiate activities under different programs. Canada is committed to working collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to drive global system change, prioritizing the inclusion of Indigenous peoples as well as local communities in co-design, decision-making and implementation.

The Workshop (Advancing Ecological Restoration in Canada: Setting an Agenda) held in Ottawa (May 30-31, 2022) to discuss strategies to advance the Canadian Agenda for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration showed that current actions are fragmented and may not be effective to achieve the Target 2 of the K-M GBF. One action was to develop a vision and the possible development of a coordinating body to enhance the capacity of Canada to respond to the restoration targets and commitments.

Call for action

At the recent UN Decade Roundtable hosted at the RE3 (Reclaim, Restore, Rewild) conference in Québec City (Jun 11-15, 2023), 214 experts, specialists, and future leaders from different cultures and disciplines developed a broad understanding of the issues and the challenges and proposed various actions and elements that are required to advance the Canadian Agenda for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and achieve Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity framework.

Participants concluded that:

The establishment of a Secretariat that is independent and becomes a legacy for all Canadians is a priority to coordinate all restorative efforts in Canada
This coordinating body would be multi-sectoral, multi-cultural, and tie in with global network of restoration initiatives associated with the UN Decade and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
It would need to be financially supported through governmental, private, and non- governmental partnerships to ensure long-term sustainable and effective delivery of support and programs to meet key climate and biodiversity targets of 2030, 2050 and beyond.

And declare that such a Secretariat should include:

Learning capacity, including financial support field-based training, internships, and educational opportunities at all levels (long-life and professional).
Outreach, relationships building, and networking (breaking silos) to heighten awareness of the cultural, economic, social, and environmental importance of restoration for future generations.
Policy and legislative analysis capacity to provide consultative and co-produced relevant recommendations to enhance ecosystem restoration, appropriate to all cultures.
Building capacity for research, innovation, and monitoring, including an open-access central, curated repository of maps (geolocation), monitoring data, up to date metrics from various sources (e.g., peer and grey literature, and practitioners, oral presentations), and progress reporting on ecological restoration projects/interventions, to facilitate improved guidance tailored to challenges, ecosystems and cultural needs based on evidence and engagement.
Capacity building to support to native species seed supply and propagation, which includes the use of innovative technologies to facilitate restorative activities.

Concluding remarks:

The RE3 conference was the first national scale gathering on ecosystem restoration since 2004, when the international conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration was hosted in Victoria. National gatherings are essential to convene future leaders, scientists, policy makers, industry, and practitioners to further advance the agenda of ecosystem restoration in Canada and must become a regular event to support the UN Decade and beyond.

This Declaration is based on the key points noted during the UN Decade Roundtable and the Recommendations from the Future Leaders (see below) as important elements that were captured in the Declaration.

Future Leaders Recommendations

We have learned a lot during this conference, and especially that reclamation, restoration and rewilding applies not only to nature, but also to the people who live in it.

Quebec’s motto is “Je me souviens” (“I remember”), but it seems like only our car plates still have a bit of memory. // We need to remember what, and who was there before us. This encompasses learning about first nations’ rights, but also their vast knowledge of the environment that the settlers stole from them. // Western science moves very fast, and is quick to forget. We have made mistakes in the past, but have we learned from them?

We have learned from Marie-Ève Marchand, Gary Pritchard and so many others, that we are in dire need to reconnect with nature and reconnect with each other. // Get your nose out of your books and into the earth. Listen to mother Earth, she is a great teacher. Animals, bugs, and microbes: they are small, but mighty. They are amazing engineers of the landscape and we need to use their power. // We are part of a complex interaction system composed of a large diversity of beings with relations that have been broken. Settlers must learn the value of indigenous knowledge, be humble, and realize that reconciliation is needed to insure the success of our restoration efforts. Reconnecting with each other will bring opportunities, as we will lift each other up.

Finally, I would like you to pause, take a breath, and relax. You are going too fast and you are being too stressed. We need a better work-life balance and take the time to live in this world to better understand it. // As Edwar Struzik asked: what will the Arctic look like in 2100? There will be changes, that’s for sure. But not all bad, and not all good. We live in a changing world, and we need to be adaptable.

Governments, practitioners and academics need to work hand in hand in order for us to move forward. We need to share our trials and tribulations: failures need to be shared as much as successes. We have a shared responsibility towards nature and our institution to create bridges, and not silos of knowledge.

To summarize, the youth of today is asking our leaders to remember the context of climate change, remember our mistakes and remember our roots. Learn from the past to better reconnect with nature and reconnect with each other. And finally, relax. Take the time to make the right decision together with all right-holders and stakeholders, because we do not have time to make mistakes anymore.

Thank you, merci, tiawenhk.

RE3 Conference UN Decade Forum: challenges & opportunities by ecosystem type

Québec City welcomed RE3, an international conference on ecosystem restoration from June 11 to 15, 2023, the theme Re-claim, Re-store, and Re-wild (hence the name RE3). This conference was the first time since 2004 (Victoria, British Columbia) where global ecosystem restoration practitioners, regulators, and scientists came together in Canada. RE3 provided a full 5-day event with workshops, including one with the United Nations Environment Program, an academy for young professionals, exhibits, poster sessions, and a discussion forum on the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.

The UN Decade forum event (June 15, 10:45 – 15:00) was to assist in the development of potential actions that will be required in Canada to achieve the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration including Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). Participants were asked guiding questions during breakout sessions to help facilitate discussion and promote collaboration with the goal of developing ideas that can advance restoration for seven general ecosystem types found in Canada which are: Wetlands &Freshwater Bodies; Forests; Mines, Borrows, Pits, Roads; Urban Areas; Agriculture, Farmlands, Grasslands, & Shrublands; Coastal Zones & Oceans: Peatlands.

The following three questions were the basis for discussion:

What is the current status and pressing issues for restoring your targeted ecosystem?
What is needed? What are the constraints or opportunities to scale up and out?
What are the concrete priorities and next steps (real actions)?

Summary of cross-cutting priorities across ecosystem type

Establishment of secretariate that is external to promote unbiased knowledge exchange, better collaboration that is linked to state of the environment reporting,
Cultural shift so restoration becomes a public priority, develop education and engagement strategies so people see the need / relevance for habitat restoration,
National tracking system – need to know what we have lost, better accounting of what we have, what we are losing, what we are gaining and how it all works together – whole ecosystem approach with area-based objectives and long-term monitoring,
Stronger incentives and penalties, need to incentivize landowners to conserve habitat,
Financial fund to ensure long-term maintenance, a need to develop bilateral agreements around restoration, funding, and capacity,
Education – tie into curriculum, engage local communities, Indigenous knowledge, place-based knowledge, land-based peoples, and work within ethical space and two-eyed seeing,
Capacity building in communities to involve in restoration, citizen science, bottom up – co- design projects at all levels with input at the beginning of design / concept,
Keep the networking going – series of meetings to develop strategic plan and working on relationships around solutions,
National seed strategy and supply, only have 1.5% to meet biodiversity targets, need more diversity, need to move away from plantation mentality.

UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Forum Results by Ecosystem Type

Ecosystem 1: Wetlands and Freshwater Bodies

Current status and pressing issues:

Wetlands are disappearing at a rapid rate, water quality degrading – small systems don’t seem to be getting priority – we don’t know where all the wetlands are, hard to quantify loss that is meaningful and relevant,
Policy varies widely across Canada, as do targets (i.e., CBD is quantity not quality), different levels of priority for restoration, lack of funding, capacity,
Bias towards smaller quicker projects,
Landowner rights – it is confusing. There is a disconnect between sectors (i.e., government and academia). Lack of knowledge sharing forums,
Lack of national wetland maps for understanding change in distribution & abundance,
Lack of wetland restoration targets, especially for small wetlands, no formal national wetland monitoring program, it is difficult to know how wetland health is changing,
National registry for tracking restoration projects does not exist – how can we report,
There is a disconnect between wetland and floodplain roles in climate change and water quality / degraded water quality. Wetland mapping is deficient, data gaps.

What is needed:

Better tools to understand the status of freshwater in Canada,
Standardization so we are comparing and reporting the same things – how data is collected, stored, and managed,
Need for ecosystem restoration standards which includes adaptive management for continuous improvement. Metrics for restoration success needed,
Information exchange, all sectors, with funding to provide this (i.e., secretariate for coordination), need more specialists working on these systems,
The current system needs to be changed. This idea that you can do whatever you want on your property despite rules needs to be challenged. Integration of protection rules especially for agriculture. Integrated watershed management – preservation needs to be placed higher on the list of tools. Permits for working in regulated areas need to be harder to get and nonpolitical. Better planning to aim at protection first then mitigation,
More financing – landowner compensation for doing the right thing – better incentives to not destroy habitat in first place – it is still easier and cheaper to say sorry, I didn’t know and get the slap on the hands,
More education – why do politicians have more influence than scientists? Better representation from all levels of gov, better knowledge sharing, need to consider landscape level functions – Citizen science, better engagement across sectors and change our way of what we consider “science” – help us to identify opportunities and monitoring. Need broader perspectives, traditional knowledge.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Lack of budgets, lack of capacity / time, practitioners are maxed out. Land use – how are we evaluating i.e., farmland versus wetland, government changing legislation and rules that slide around in 4-year cycles (i.e., Greenbelt in Ontario). Balancing conservation with economic development,
NGOS doing a lot of the restoration – don’t have the capacity including money or a consistent framework to work under. Clearer objectives and targets needed
Plant and seed availability – need national seed strategy.

Opportunities to scale up and out:

Natural assets inventories requirements for municipalities; constraint planning around assets. Need Green Plan 2.0 – whole of government approach, actioning in concert with conservation / protection, need to breakdown silos,
Capacity building – better laws to strengthen environment and restoration,
Culture shift to rematriation.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

Establishment of secretariate that is external to promote unbiased knowledge exchange, • Better collaboration – secretariate that is linked to state of the environment reporting,
Cultural shift – social license, so restoration becomes a public priority (develop value proposition) so people see the need / relevance for habitat restoration,
National tracking system – need to know what we have lost, better accounting of what we have, what we are losing, what we are gaining and how it all works together – whole ecosystem approach with area-based objectives,
Tax-based incentives, penalties, – need to incentivize landowners to conserve habitat,
Financial fund to ensure long-term maintenance – no one ever wants to pay for this part, need to develop bilateral agreements around restation, funding, and capacity,
Education – tie into curriculum, engage local place-based knowledge – land people, work within ethical space,
Networking, meetings to develop strategic plan, • Relationships around solutions.

Ecosystem 2: Forest Ecosystems

Current status and pressing issues:

Need to stop the destruction, fragmentation (i.e., roads), fires, monoculture – protection needed before restoration,
South – population pressure, north – timber exploitation = loss of biodiversity,
Right to restore – private, public, and traditional, ownership drives different rules,
What is the definition of forest, many types,
Indigenous voices, rights, knowledge needs to lead, the loss of traditional knowledge,
Loss of resiliency and proper management across jurisdictions = loss of forest function.

What is needed:

Better appreciation of Canadian forests and their role, – the non-timber piece, colonial interpretation of what is restoration – out of alignment with land use and traditional land use; what are we restoring to?
What is the baseline for restoration, managing climate change?
Linkage to freshwater and importance globally,
Species distribution models need to improve to bring better understanding of invasive species and where they are,
Education and engagement.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Social, economic, political, biological underpinned by climate change,
Data gaps for species – where are they,
Invasive species management,
Not trying to restore within the same system (way of thinking) that destroyed it – need a new framework where jurisdictional boundaries (i.e., borders) are more effective for cross work to promote restoration across these boundaries. Political will for change.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

Stop degradation, this involves climate change adaptation to build forest resiliency especially for fire and disease,
Increase cultural awareness education and training to bring people together Increase capacity – better Indigenous engagement and knowledge sharing,
Improved cross sector and cross jurisdiction management – Canadas forest are big – one size approach won’t work but neither will only provincial / territorial management – needs to be less disjointed,
Improve species mapping (including invasive) to fill data gaps,
Secretariate – need international and national level support with financing to keep collaboration and networks establish and going.

Ecosystem 3: Mines, Borrows, Pits, Roads Impacts

Current status and pressing issues:

Fragmentation – roads, cutting off habitat, migration – i.e., caribou decline – need to better understand habitat impacts,
Cumulative impact of development especially in the north,
Agreed upon targets especially for mines and closure plans – what does successful reclamation look like – implication of current goals on precedent of future projects.

What is needed:

How do we build roads in better ways to limit impacts and need to ensure they last – of better quality and in the correct location,
We only have models that don’t know everything – need to work with functionality since we are no longer returning the land to what it was but what function it can have.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Implications to communities (local) are not well understood or often not respected / considered,
Can landscapes be safe to be used for food?
Knowledge integration takes time and effort may not align with regulatory timelines,
Barriers to education – don’t make restoration another disturbance to communities.

Opportunities to scale up and out:

Training for partner collaboration and rights holders to ensure ethical space and sharing of knowledge in respected timelines,
Community of practice across different sectors – dialogues are varied and fragmented does not make for good knowledge exchange,
Engagement needs to happen first not after the project is done,
Western science needs to meet indigenous science equally (equal weight and impact),
Better defined targets – end goals and truth of what can and cannot be achieved.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

Capacity building in communities, involve in restoration – citizen science, bottom up – co- design projects at all levels with input at the beginning of design / concept,
Funding security to include long-term monitoring and reporting that is timely and transparent, with more funding to impacted communities,
Function over form, understand the different perception of performance and success – set success criteria from the beginning through all partners / rights holder’s involvement,
Engagement model to ensure proper communications with local communities especially land-based peoples at the concept phase,
Centralized unit (federate) to facilitate engagement but also to keep momentum at high level but arm’s length from government and industry influence, neutral and apolitical,
Centralized mapping and database to ensure knowledge exchange and best practices,
Better connection been sectors for research and practical application.
Training of young practitioners,
Enforcement of targets and outcomes – monitoring,
Remove political barriers – government does not always know best.

Ecosystem 4: Urban Areas

Current status and pressing issues:

More people now live in urban areas – good opportunities to be working on remanent patches and habitat,
Designated green spaces can be good opportunities but also bring equity issues of where they go – what communities get the trees, etc. There needs to be fair rules,
Whose tree is it – landowner disputes and unclear rules around restoration – bylaws can be a hurdle i.e., clean yard act can prevent naturalization,
Loss of biodiversity and habitats, invasive species,
Climate change – too much water or not enough, urban flooding then water conservation measures – leads to confusion about who to listen to and what to believe,
Western science may not be best approach especially for climate change,
Better land use planning – perceived housing shortages, the fact it is cheaper to cut down a forest and deal with penalties than engage brown field redevelopment.

What is needed:

Holistic watershed planning – need to look at whole system,
Proactive land use planning that embraces green infrastructure and low impact development – these systems cost more but last longer and bring ecosystem services – need to plan this into budgets to move away from grey infrastructure,
Budgets that are long term and do not follow municipal short cycle, • Less political interference and more education about living cities.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Lack of political will and outdated legislation / approaches,
Lack of knowledge and experience in land use planning,
Lack of mentors, role models for training and knowledge sharing,
Traditional approaches to infrastructure – lack of human resources and capacity – old and familiar path of least resistance mentality,
Ecoanxiety – the lack of freedom to speak due to becoming unpopular / backlash politically – going with status quo because it is easier.

Opportunities to scale up and out:

Better communications between all levels of government, public, private, Indigenous,
Education about the value and role of urban systems,
Activate citizens to bring community level change – get involved in politics and learn how to
advocate and lobby for change – this is a bottom-up approach,
Citizen science – engagement to bring awareness and community level solutions, • Build community leadership through all of the above.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

Start with in my backyard approach – small spaces matter and they lead to bigger spaces, • Get some pilot projects started,
Work with community groups to grow a more informed citizenry,
More education programs and ties with curriculum,
Sub watershed plans, ensure land use planning is current and embedded in science,
Move to innovation and green infrastructure technologies,
Every municipality should become a sustainable city.

Ecosystem 5: Agriculture, Farmlands, Grasslands, Shrublands

Current status and pressing issues:

Grasslands are degraded, causing loss of habitat – economies driving loss,
Not a priority ecosystem seems to be all about tree planting,
Loss of disturbance, loss of Indigenous management,
Social issues and government mistrust,
Landowner verses conservationist mentality.

What is needed:

More awareness about the importance of grasslands,
Better incentives to restore,
Indigenous leadership – two eye seeing,
Cross-sector cooperation including cross borders,
Hub such as secretariate for info sharing and coordination.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Challenges with finding native seeds / sourcing / collecting,
Loss of disturbance, need to change management practices and therefore perceptions, • Grasslands versus agriculture, better compensation to buy out,
Definition and consistency around what restored grasslands look like, quantity is not the same as quality.

Opportunities to scale up and out:

Native seed supply, need enough plants to meet targets,
Marginal lands on crop lands are an opportunity for mixed use and restoring, • Better incentives, ESG payments, credits,
Top down does not work, needs to be bottom up.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

Needs to be a targeted ecosystem – we have just started to measure biodiversity in targeted ecosystems,
Better mapping so we know what we have, identify opportunities – need to be tracking gains and losses,
Restoration standards for grasslands to bring consistency, clearly defined smart goals of what to restore, better link between academic and botany, restoration rethinking – we have changed the landscape so much – are our approaches still valid,
Sufficient resources – financial, equipment, training, seeds,
Understanding what will motivate landowners – figure out effective compensation, the value of land needs to be higher than overexploitation – better incentives, crop insurance on native plants – so beyond standard cropping – rethink the traditional approach – more funding to be competitive for compensation and demotivate overexploitation,
Restoration needs to be meaningful – don’t change the standard just to meet the target,
Better education around the importance of grasslands need to deal with the idea that status quo is working we need change of societal thinking,
Seed supply – only have 1.5% to meet biodiversity targets, need more and more diversity – move away from plantation mentality,
Collaboration, build skills capacity for high quality projects.

Ecosystem 6: Coastal Zones and Oceans

Current status and pressing issues:

Coastal systems are facing extreme climate change impacts – is there enough time to do something efficient as there is a lack of time and resources,
Current regulations are inadequate to deal with sea level rise, they are prone and vulnerable to political shifts where there is lack of science,
Public skeptical of floodplain mapping especially “with not in my back yard” mentality,
Dynamic nature of coastal zones, the western approach of “lines on a map”, nature does not follow maps or box ticking,
Need adaptive management to ensure resiliency – need to be thinking about why and where we are restoring – in some cases we will never be able to go back effectively – too many resources required. Need new ways of approach,
Better education about natural dynamic systems in education sectors as they are poorly understood. Engineering is not always a good solution. Coastal communities under value salt marshes – this view needs to change.

What is needed:

Consistency in management practices, standards in coastal restoration,
Remove barriers to restoration such as lack of regulations or prohibitive regulations and inconsistent application of regulations,
Better funding, have to fight every time, many gaps,
Break down silos need better communication,
Indigenous perspective and knowledge exchange – rights holders – these communities can be the first to be displaced, they need to be included in long-term solutions.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Rethink approach – situations are changing and we need to think about where opportunities are going to be as opposed to always thinking we can restore in areas that used to be. They may never be able to go back as we have changed the climate,
Better language, people don’t understand terms such as managed realignment, retreat…and these terms are not always applied the same,
Fear of change, or willingness to do things a different way,
Changing regulations recognizing that once revisited they can be weakened.

Opportunities to scale up and out:

Education about the importance of coastal areas, even if you live nowhere near one – link to bigger picture and make relevant,
Not a static problem, mapping is static so there is a disconnect that needs attention,
Case studies to improve coastal ecosystem literacy – communities learning from communities, pilot sites,
Foster local ground level capacity and support at municipal level, needs to be bottom up first, get community engagement embedded into restoration project plans,
Look to Nova Scotia blue school program as an example of what can be done – want all
school kids coming out knowing about the RE3s,
Better Indigenous relationships- restoring with Indigenous communities – less talking about this and more action needed.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

High and consistent funding support, reduce red tape for streamlining,
Flip the narrative on incentive programs for better engagement in conservation and restoration, switch the approach to compensate landowners who have something on their property worth protecting, idea is to pay to protect not only to restore,
Monitoring programs that speak to the dynamic nature of these systems,
Remove barriers to collaboration which includes better access to working with US,
Better mechanism for community engagement and education, with a focus on reconnection to nature – expand 3 Rs of reduce…to include new 3 Rs of reclaim, restore, rewild – needs to become common place language with people.

Ecosystem 7: Peatlands

Current status and pressing issues:

Unclear boundaries,
Fire management needs to be improved,
Not enough support for non-commercial, no system for producers in Canada, majority of money going to commercial,
Agricultural disturbance – draining, deforestation in forested peatlands,
On-going and historic injustice – power – who has it, who does not,
Natural resources versus peatlands, who is deciding, need to popularize peatlands to public.
Not recognized for place / role in climate change – this needs to be better communicated.

What is needed:

Governing oversight body needed for better knowledge sharing,
Nationwide campaign for restoration, identify lands for restoration, conservation strategy, with better ecosystem indicators, prioritization criteria, and mapping,
National seed strategy,
Protect what is left, public awareness better informed by science,
Scale down consumption,
Network that can provide resources, information, who is doing what, better action between practitioners, science at all levels,
Increased monitoring and capacity,
Established relationships on the land, involve Indigenous communities, • Need to work with new land dynamics such as fires and climate change, • Compensation – better incentives, legalize obligation to restore / off-set.

Constraints to scale up and out:

Funding for research and restoration across boundaries, collaboration is required but challenging. Cultural shift to change minds and attitudes.
Understanding of hydrological systems and effects of ditches / drainage,
Seed supply bottleneck.

Opportunities to scale up and out:

Foster education and engagement – start in rural areas where there are still connections to the land, shifting cultural values, cross sectoral partnerships emerging,
UN Decade to come up with a plan for restoration,
Massive land acquisition for restoration,
Reduce the need / reliance through reuse – recycling.

Priorities, actions, and next steps:

Public awareness campaign – making restoration success and their champions visible,
Competitive flagship application for Canada re restoration, support transition to reclaiming agricultural peatlands for conservation,
Canada wide proactive restoration law to obligate the implementation of GBF & UN Decade restoration targets in Canada,
Bottom up secretariate – facilitate more workshops for knowledge sharing and exchange – liaison with all parties globally, provide expertise to policy makers, connect academia and practitioners. Identify multi-scale projects to develop database of restoration opportunities with mapping,
Monitoring and mapping peatland disturbances and restoration priorities – areas for best targeted restoration, increase accessibility to funding.
Removing barriers for re-wetting, framework to prioritize restoration,
Better communication between practitioners and between agriculture and peatland industry, networks of networks – cross-sectorial partnerships,
Peatland education program highlighting peatland importance & impact of degradation on human health & social economic wellbeing & biodiversity.