e-4748 (Environment)

Planting two billion trees over a decade is an important part of the Government of Canada’s climate plan and a significant step forward in tackling the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. The government’s commitment to planting two billion trees is on its way. It takes years to get from a seed, to planting the right tree in the right place. The 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program has been undertaking several measures to increase capacity for tree supply and meet the program’s targets in a cost-effective manner. The 2BT program is focused on establishing long term agreements, which allows applicants to apply and secure long-term multi-year funding building capacity along the supply chain and certainty for nurseries to scale up their operations to meet demand in the coming years.

For the success of these long-term agreements, 2BT is designed to build capacity over time, across the supply chain. The program does this in a variety of ways, including earmarking $17 million in grant funding to support applicants in developing their longer-term tree planting plans and to invest in different elements of the tree-planting supply chain, building skills and experience to scale-up their tree planting efforts in future years. 

The program also focuses on funding projects that consider all elements of the supply chain. When projects include elements like seed collection and nursery capacity, it supports the tree planting supply chain ramp-up and provides more capacity and stability for future projects. The program funds projects that support multiple goals like the enhancement of biodiversity and habitat restoration, increased carbon sequestration, permanency of forest cover, and effective monitoring.

To date, the program has agreements committed or under negotiation to plant over 553 million trees, representing nearly $1 billion in funding.  The program funds federal departments, provinces, territories, private companies, non-profit organizations, municipalities, Indigenous governments, and communities in their tree planting efforts. The 2BT program targets for federal and urban planting are already met; planting in Indigenous communities and on private land are well underway; and planting by provinces and territories is starting to ramp up with most jurisdictions undertaking projects.

The program is helping to ensure it meets its goals by working with experienced organizations to understand their plans for preparing sites, how they are selecting species, and how they plan to monitor after planting to ensure the job is done well for the long-term survival of trees planted. Organizations fund on average fifty percent of the cost of their projects and have an interest in seeing that their investments in nature grow over time. Projects are reported on every year and the 2BT team conducts site visits, and will use remote sensing, to monitor sites.  If the job is done well, then sites will flourish, and nature will take over, keeping those sites healthy, and forested, in the long term.  

Climate change demands that measures are taken to adapt and to transform the ways Canadians manage and live with wildland fire. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) initiatives and programs target gaps in Canada’s wildland fire and forest management landscape, support the work of provinces and territories, and foster whole-of-society collaboration and innovation in support of greater wildland fire and forest resilience and climate adaptation.

NRCan’s Canadian Forest Service (CFS) has been involved in fire research for decades. The CFS works with partners across the country to increase the knowledge base about wildland fires, and to improve the ability of authorities to predict and manage risks and benefits. The CFS invests approximately $33 million per year in wildland fire research. One key area of research includes improving post-fire management strategies to inform both current and future forestry operations. This entails studying the long-term impacts of wildland fires on vegetation and ecosystem dynamics, improving our ability to predict forest recovery, and implementing adaptive measures to enhance forest productivity under changing climate conditions.

Taking proactive measures to prevent wildland fires and to reduce the future risk before they occur enhances the resilience of forests. Launched in Fall 2023, as a component of Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy and Government of Canada Adaptation Action Plan, the Wildfire Resilient Futures Initiative (WRFI) is the most recent addition to NRCan’s wildland fire program suite. It is investing $285M over five years towards enhanced wildland fire prevention and mitigation activities, filling foundational gaps in wildland fire science and establishing a Centre of Excellence for Wildland Fire Innovation and Resilience. This initiative is designed to mobilize and bring together all orders of government, Indigenous Peoples, public and private sectors, academia and individuals to actively participate and coordinate efforts to effectively live safely within wildland fire prone areas. 

The 2BT program has supported and continues to support projects that are regenerating forests in areas impacted by wildfire. Of the over 56 million trees planted by the 2BT program in 2021 and 2022, about a quarter were planted in areas affected by wildfires. The 2023 wildfire season demonstrated that Canada needs to consider how to ensure its forests are resilient and leveraging existing programs, like the 2BT program, is one such solution. This program continues to work with the provinces and territories to support their plans to increase the resiliency of forests to the impacts of climate change.

For example, active forest management techniques are used to regenerate and grow more resilient forests for the future and to reduce the likelihood and spread of severe wildfires. This includes planting a more diverse set of species, including less flammable deciduous species, and implementing FireSmart methods to reduce fuel load near communities. This can also accelerate the regeneration of forests and habitat for wildlife, particularly on sites severely burned where seed sources have not survived.

In Canada, pesticides are regulated federally under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA), which is administered by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). PMRA’s mandate and top priority is to protect the health and safety of Canadians and the environment. 

Before a pesticide is allowed to be used or sold in Canada, it must undergo a rigorous scientific assessment process that provides reasonable certainty that no harm to human health and the environment (including migratory birds) will occur when pesticides are used according to label directions. Health Canada also regularly re-evaluates pesticides that are on the market to determine whether they continue to meet the department’s health and environmental standards and hence whether they should continue to be permitted for use in Canada.  

Health Canada has conducted several post-market reviews of neonicotinoid pesticides in recent year (2019-2022) which have led to the implementation of new risk mitigation measures to better protect human health and the environment. The latest completed re-evaluations and special reviews of neonicotinoid pesticides indicate that there are no risks to wildlife, including birds, when the products are used according to the revised label directions. The full re-evaluations for clothianidin and thiamethoxam, specifically, have been initiated and the PMRA is targeting to publish these proposed re-evaluation decisions by summer of 2025 for public consultations.

In Canada, the Migratory Bird Regulations, 2022and the federal Species at Risk Act, 2002, prohibit killing of Migratory Birds and federal species at risk. This includes unintentional deaths or incidental take such as those caused by collisions with buildings. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) provides information on bird collisions on its web page: Frequently Asked Questions on Bird Collisions with Glass Windows - Canada.ca

The issue of bird collisions with buildings has been incorporated in the Greening Government Strategy (GGS), and in the latest version, the Government of Canada has made a commitment to “taking steps to minimize bird strikes into buildings”: Greening Government Strategy: A Government of Canada Directive - Canada.ca

To implement the GGS, the Government of Canada is currently developing guidelines for new federal buildings and for retrofitting existing federal buildings. ECCC is also involved in developing bird-friendly standards or incorporating bird-friendly design into existing standards that are used by different levels of governments and by architects for new construction. These include the CSA A460:19 Bird-Friendly Building Design Standard and the Canadian National Master Construction Specification - National Research Council Canada

ECCC is currently working on developing an incidental take management system that might lead to further incentives to adopt mitigation strategies to avoid bird-building collisions.

ECCC also supports conservation initiatives such as the Bird-friendly City Certification Program by Nature Canada. To be certified, cities must demonstrate that they take actions to reduce threats to migratory birds, including window collisions. Nature Canada works with cities and municipalities and provides information and solutions on the issue of bird collisions.