The provincial government has added new candidate areas to its online portal where New Brunswick citizens, Indigenous peoples, and conservation groups can nominate the natural places they love for protected areas status.
This second round of public comments runs until March 31, 2021 and covers 78,000 hectares of new Candidate Conserved Areas.
As you know, the province has committed to doing its part to meet the federal government’s Target 1 conservation goal of protecting at least 17 per cent of all land and inland water across the country by the end of the year.
Two years ago, New Brunswick committed to doubling its protected and conserved land and freshwater from 4.6 per cent to 10 per cent by the end of the year.
You’ll remember that polling we conducted with allies this past fall showed that 87 per cent of New Brunswickers want the government to keep its protected areas promise, and that 68 per cent want the government to go even further— 25 per cent by 2025.
The Conservation Council and its fellow conservation groups and First Nations allies have worked tirelessly for more than a decade to get to this stage—now is the time to make it happen.
Here are a few ways you can help:
- Comment on areas being considered for protection, dubbed ‘Candidate Conserved Areas (CCA).’ Do that by heading to this map, see the CCAs (highlighted in green) that you are familiar with, and tell the government why it is such an important space for you, your family, local wildlife, or the health of New Brunswick’s mixed-wood Acadian forest.
- Share this post far and wide and encourage as many friends, family, neighbours and co-workers as possible to participate in this process. Now is the time to make our voices heard for a better protected Acadian forest.
- Sign up for our email updates and be sure to tick the box ‘NB Forests and Wildlife.’ We’ll keep you updated on progress toward meeting N.B.’s Pathway to Target 1 commitment.
- Check back to this space often. We will continue to update this page. including highlighting specific CCAs and areas we encourage you to support for protection.
Watch this video with our Executive Director Lois Corbett and our friend Roberta Clowater from CPAWS-NB talking about the importance of creating more protected areas in New Brunswick.
Some more helpful links for you:
- Want to learn more about Canada’s Target 1 plan for better protecting nature country-wide, and New Brunswick’s role in it? Check out this FAQ.
- Head to New Brunswick’s portal for nominating protected areas, and learning more about the initiative, here.
- See our protected areas polling results from Sept. 2020 here.