Canadian policy failures putting globally important carbon-rich peatland ecosystems at risk, says new report

Policy frameworks across Canada are inadequate for ensuring the country’s carbon-rich peatlands are safeguarded, says a new report published today by Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.

Peatlands store around 30% of the Earth’s soil carbon on just 3% of its land surface. Peat carbon builds up over long periods of time and, when a peatland is disturbed or drained, not only is this irrecoverable carbon lost to the atmosphere, but the now-degraded peatland acts as a source of greenhouse gas emissions for years before restoration may return it to a sink function. Even if a peatland is restored, it takes centuries to thousands of years to recover carbon lost due to disturbances.

Canada is obligated under numerous multilateral agreements to safeguard biodiverse and climate-important ecosystems, including peatlands. However, peatlands across Canada – including critical high-integrity peatland complexes like the Hudson Bay Lowland – continue to be disturbed or are under threat, with only 13% of peatlands in Canada within protected areas as of 2023. Furthermore, only five of Canada’s 14 jurisdictions explicitly mention the importance of peatlands in their latest climate plans (Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and the federal government).

Victoria Goodday, Policy Lead, Forest, Peatlands and Climate Change for WCS Canada, said: “Peatlands are critical freshwater ecosystems and carbon stores that must be protected if global climate targets are to be met. Considering Canada’s disproportionate responsibility to safeguard peatlands and its presently failing grade on peatland protections, there is an immediate need for a coordinated national strategy to ensure the protection and long-term stewardship of peatlands in Canada.”

Despite Canada’s critical role in global peatland stewardship – a quarter of the world’s peatlands are in Canada, representing the world’s largest stock of peat carbon – peatlands are subject to an uncoordinated mix of laws and policies across a variety of policy areas, many with competing objectives or with perverse incentives that encourage destruction of peatlands.

Across Canada, the critical carbon services of peatlands are usually ignored under applicable policy frameworks. Instead, peatlands are treated as providers of peat for extraction and are sometimes less protected than other types of wetlands. Where peatland-specific policies do exist, 80% of these relate to managing peatlands for the purposes of peat extraction rather than preventing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ignoring the essential carbon services of peatlands in policy results in major blind-spots in climate decision-making. Peatland emissions caused by human disturbances such as oil and gas development, forestry, mining, and the development of roads, are currently excluded from Canada’s GHG reporting, resulting in a significant underestimation of Canada’s GHG emissions.

The new report sets out key policy action needed to improve peatland protection and stewardship, including the need for provinces and territories to put in place strong laws that protect high integrity peatlands from disturbance, providing support and pathways for Indigenous-led stewardship of peatlands, updating land-use planning, wetland, and climate policies to reflect and prioritize the essential carbon services of peatlands, and the development of a coordinated, cross-Canada strategy for peatlands that supports coherent, ecosystem-based approaches across jurisdictions.

Notes to Editors

• Despite having the world’s largest peat carbon stock, Canada does not have a coordinated strategy for peatland protection and peatlands are less protected than other types of wetlands.
• Of all provinces and territories, Ontario contains the largest peat carbon stock, followed by Manitoba and the Northwest Territories
• There are 203 current individual policies and pieces of legislation applicable to peatlands at the provincial, territorial and federal levels. These instruments fall across 14 different policy areas. This fragmented approach hinders policy coherence, effectiveness and efficiency and, ultimately, puts peatlands at risk.
• Only five of Canada’s 14 jurisdictions explicitly mention the importance of peatlands in their latest climate plans: Manitoba, Alberta, Quebec, the Northwest Territories and the federal government.
• This is the first report from WCS Canada’s National Peatland Policy Project. Further recommendations for policy reform will follow in due course.

For further information, please contact: Ashleigh Talbot, Head of Communications, WCS Canada

• Email: atalbot@wcs.org
• Phone: +1 (778) 400-7090