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

The National Peatland Strategy: Implementation Opportunities for Alberta

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

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To facilitate uptake of the National Peatland Strategy, opportunities for implementation at the federal level and in each province and territory have been identified. This document outlines opportunities for the province of Alberta.

Key points

• Canada’s peatlands are of global importance, storing over 150 billion tonnes of carbon.
• Canada's provinces and territories have the primary responsibility for properly stewarding these climate-critical ecosystems.
• Top opportunities for the Government of Alberta to achieve better outcomes for peatlands, and the communities and ecosystems that rely on them, include:
  • Developing an updated wetland inventory and updating the Alberta Wetland Policy framework to better reflect and protect the essential and irreplaceable values of peatlands.
  • Integrating peatland objectives into other areas of policy and imposing stronger measures to deter peatland disturbance by industrial approval holders including oil, gas, and mining companies.
  • Improving planning and assessment of peat extraction activities to minimize peatland disturbance.

The full strategy is available in both English and French.

Recommended citation

Goodday, V., Tanguay, L., Radatus-Smith, N. & Harris, L (2025). The National Peatland Strategy: Implementation Opportunities for Alberta. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada [WCS Canada]. https://doi.org/10.19121/2025.Report.52386.p03.en