In Manitoba, community land use planning and the Protected Areas Initiative are powerful tools to achieve biodiversity conservation targets. CPAWS hopes the new provincial government will employ these tools as means to achieve a sustainable future for the province.
NEWS RELEASE: Manitoba making more progress than other parts of Canada on wilderness protection
In its latest annual report released in advance of Canada Parks Day, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is calling Canada out for falling behind most other countries in protecting its land and fresh water. CPAWS’ 2015 report, Protecting Canada: Is it in our nature? assesses whether our governments are on track to meet their collective international commitment to protect at least 17% of our land and fresh water by 2020, and to improve the quality of our protected areas.
Spectacular diversity and unique boreal regions protected through a new Provincial Park
The province is moving ahead toward its commitment to create 10 new or expanded parks by 2020. The commitment is part of TomorrowNow, Manitoba’s Green Plan, which seeks to balance environmental protection with a thriving sustainable economy. The designation of Chitek Lake Provincial Park and the Walter Cook Caves Ecological Reserve move the measuring stick forward toward CPAWS’ goal of protecting 50% of our boreal regions from industrial developments to maintain ecological and economic stability as well as the forest carbon reserves that help to buffer against the impacts of climate change.