Government Financing for Protection
Measures the ratio of all government spending in Canada on biodiversity and landscape protection to spending on fuel and energy programs
It’s important to be transparent that this Shared Measurement System was designed from a non-Indigenous worldview and we recognize that Indigenous ways of knowing are absent from it. For more information on this positioning, see our Right Relations page.
Overview
Having access to reliable information about the health of our waters is vital to making good management decisions. If we don’t understand the health of our waters, we can’t fully understand the impact of pressures that threaten fresh water such as pollution, agricultural runoff, urbanization, natural resource extraction and climate change.
WWF-Canada has undertaken watershed health assessments of all the country’s sub-watersheds. In 2017, when WWF first released it’s Watershed Reports, of Canada’s 167 sub-watersheds (based on the Water Survey of Canada’s “sub-drainage” areas), only 57 (34%) had sufficient, accessible data to assess overall health. In October, 2020, WWF updated the Watershed Reports, and this time 67 of the 167 sub-watersheds (40%) had sufficient, accessible data to assess overall health.
As WWF-Canada states, “Canadians deserve to know the state of their country’s watersheds.” Unfortunately, we are not collecting enough water data to give an accurate picture of watershed health across the country. As a result, for the majority of the country, we are unequipped to make decisions informed by good data.
Last updated October 2020
Ratio of all government spending in Canada on biodiversity and landscape protection to spending on fuel and energy programs
33% (in 2017)
Average inflation-adjusted spending per person by federal and provincial/territorial governments on biodiversity and landscape protection from 2008 to 2017: $48
Average inflation-adjusted spending per person by federal and provincial/territorial governments on fuel and energy programs (including subsidies) from 2008 to 2017: $158
Ratio of all government spending in Canada on biodiversity and landscape protection to spending on fuel and energy programs
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Note: The data presented here represents our best research given the time and resources at hand. We acknowledge there may be errors. This shared measurement system belongs to all members of the Our Living Water Network, so if you have any corrections for us, or ideas to share on this measure, please send us an email at info@ourlivingwaters.ca.