Close to 80 % of Canadians now live in cities and suburbs.

" Close to 80 % of Canadians now live in cities and suburbs. As a consequence, how we manage our growing urban footprint will largely determine whether we can effectively reduce the GHGs that cause global warming, protect critically important agricultural areas close to home, sustain and restore wildlife habitat, as well as ensure that our communities (especially young people) continue to have access to nature for recreational, health and spiritual benefit.

Unfortunately cash-strapped local governments carry much of the burden of managing their community’s natural capital –fields, forests, wetlands, and parks that not only provide homes and habitat for wildlife but also the critical ecological services that clean the air, provide clean drinking water and other benefits. 

The David Suzuki Foundation is releasing a major report today that provides guidance on cost-effective ways that local governments can protect and restore natural capital in cities. Our report also offers various case studies of where these types of policies are working and identifies an abundance of promising tools and approaches that local governments can adopt. 

You can obtain the report here : Natural Capital Policy Review

We also encourage you to watch an accompanying video documentary series, Making Policy Live, that presents a number of innovative local projects in the communities of Maple Ridge, North Vancouver, Squamish and Vancouver. The videos reveal how locally driven initiatives are bringing new life to derelict or underutilized sites and enhancing the ability of nature to provide essential services like filtering drinking water and flood control. "