Nature Conservancy of Canada
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is Canada's leading national conservation organization. A private, non-profit organization, NCC partners with individuals, corporations, governments and other organizations to help protect Canada's most important lands, waters and wildlife. Properties are secured through donation, purchase, conservation agreement and the relinquishment of other legal interests and are managed for the long term.
| Founded | 1962 |
|---|---|
| Focus | Land conservation, restoration and management |
| Location | |
Area served | Canada |
| Method | Conservation through property securement and long-term management and restoration of properties. |
Key people | John Lounds, President & CEO |
Revenue | $90,201,517.00[1] |
Employees | > 320 |
Volunteers | > 2,300 |
| Website | www.natureconservancy.ca |
Since 1962, NCC and its partners have helped protect 14 million hectares (more than 35 million acres) of Canada’s ecologically significant places from coast to coast to coast.
Mission: The Nature Conservancy of Canada leads and inspires others to join us in creating a legacy for future generations by conserving important natural areas and biological diversity across all regions in Canada.
At the heart of NCC’s mission is a respect for nature and a belief that nature’s rich diversity benefits Canada and all Canadians.
NCC envisions a world in which Canadians conserve nature in all its diversity, and safeguard the lands and waters that sustain life.
The conservation process
The Nature Conservancy of Canada's work is led by a team of conservation professionals who use the best available science and information to identify the most important places to protected and other critical conservation actions. Using the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation ensures that the organizatin’s conservation actions are strategic and result in measurable conservation progress. NCC's conservation process is guided by the following steps, which happen at all scales, from ecoregions, to natural areas, to the properties we protect:
Identifying conservation priorities: First, NCC identifies the important places where we should work, and the species and habitats we need to protect. These are often referred to as“conservation targets.” NCC maps where these priority areas are, and assesses the current health of and the threats to these conservation.
Developing strategies: Next, NCC determines what we need to do to reduce the threats and improve the health of the conservation targets.
Taking action: NCC then works with partners, landowners and volunteers to implement these strategies. Actions could include buying land, removing invasive weeds or mapping the locations of rare species.
Measuring success: NCC then assesses how effective these actions are and whether they are improving the health of the species and habitats it wants to protect and reducing the threats to them. This information is then used to help reassess priorities and actions.
The Natural Heritage Conservation Program
The Natural Heritage Conservation Program (NHCP) is a public-private partnership designed to advance privately protected areas in some of the country’s most cherished landscapes. Launched with a $100-million investment from the Government of Canada the program is administered by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), with contributions from partners like Ducks Unlimited Canada and the country’s land trusts. Wildlife Habitat Canada administers the land trust portion of the program. NCC will work with the program partners to identify land for conservation and raise the funds to match the government’s investment 2:1.
The NHCP partners are committed to protecting an additional 200,000 hectares (494,210 acres) of habitat for species at risk.
The NHCP will bring Canadians together to conserve nature. It continues the momentum of the previous federal partnership administered by NCC: the Natural Areas Conservation Program (NACP). Under the NACP, NCC and its partners conserved more than 446,000 hectares (more than 1.1 million acres) coast to coast, providing habitat for 210 species at risk. As of 2018, the NACP had achieved nearly $1B in conservation outcomes.