Biodiversity Boreal Climate change Conservation planning Freshwater Indigenous partnerships Natural resource development Peatlands

The National Peatland Strategy: A Proposed Strategy for the Protection, Restoration, and Long-Term Stewardship of Peatlands in Canada

Goodday, V., Tanguay, L., Radatus-Smith, N. & Harris, L.

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Key points

The proposed National Peatland Strategy identifies goals, strategic priorities, actions, and guiding principles for peatland protection, restoration, and stewardship at different governance levels across Canada.

The full collections of resources related to the National Peatland Strategy can be found here.

The strategy is also available in French.

Key points:

• Canada is home to roughly 25% of the world’s peatlands. These peatlands provide globally important values and services including storing 150 billion tonnes of carbon - more than five times the carbon in all the country’s forests combined.
• Peatlands in Canada are increasingly threatened by industrial development, resource extraction, and natural threats like climate change and wildfire.
• The proposed strategy lays out a comprehensive roadmap of priorities for protecting, restoring, and stewarding peatlands, including:
  • Strengthened policies and smarter planning
  • Putting Indigenous leadership at the forefront
  • Investing in the knowledge and capacity for effective protection and stewardship of these globally important ecosystems

Recommended citation

Goodday, V., Tanguay, L., Radatus-Smith, N. & Harris, L. (2025). The National Peatland Strategy: A Proposed Strategy for the Protection, Restoration, and Long-Term Stewardship of Peatlands in Canada. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://wcscanada.org/resources/the-national-peatland-strategy-a-proposed-strategy-for-the-protection-restoration-and-long-term-stewardship-of-peatlands-in/