Celebrating our Conservation Heroes

A STRONG PARTNERSHIP FOR NATURE
Working together with the Government of Canada, Ducks Unlimited Canada and local land trusts
07
ANNUAL REPORT 2018–2019
This fiscal year we closed the book on the Natural
Areas Conservation Program (NACP). For 12 years
the unique public-private partnership was a model
of environmental leadership.
The Government of Canada‘s NACP investment of
$345 million was matched 2:1 in non–federal funds, for a total
conservation outcome of over $1 billion. The NACP allowed
the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) and its partners,
Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and local land trusts, to
conserve more than 550,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) across
the country – an area almost as big as Banff National Park.
Though NACP funds expired in spring 2019, the program’s
momentum will not be lost. When the federal government
sought proposals for a new $100-million conservation
initiative, NCC and partners applied and were successful. We
will oversee the new Natural Heritage Conservation Program
(NHCP), working closely with partners DUC, the Canadian
Land Trust Working Group and Wildlife Habitat Canada.
We look forward to an exciting four-year program,
through which we will conserve and care for an additional
200,000 hectares (more than 490,000 acres), contributing
directly to Canada’s commitment to conserve at least
17 per cent of our terrestrial and freshwater habitat.
NACP program achievements since 2007
The NHCP places a focus on protecting habitat for the
recovery of species listed under the Species at Risk Act.
The new program will also advance collaboration for
conservation. It will support partnerships with Indigenous
communities for conservation planning, stewardship and
securement. It will also help to develop capacity within
Canada’s land trust movement.
As with the NACP, the match requirement is again 2:1. The
NHCP partners are ready to work with Canadians to raise
and invest an additional $200 million of non-federal funding
to ensure the program’s success.
• SUPPORTED THE CONSERVATION of more than 550,000
hectares (1.3 million acres);
• PROTECTED HABITAT FOR 29 per cent of COSEWIC-assessed
species at risk*;
• PROTECTED NATURAL AREAS within 100 kilometres of
93 per cent of Canadians;
• CREATED NATURAL CONNECTIONS: 80 per cent of
NACP-conserved properties are within two kilometres of
other protected areas; and
• CONNECTED MORE CANADIANS than ever before with
our country’s rich natural habitats and species.
*Species at risk includes COSEWIC-assessed and SARA-listed (Schedule 1) taxa designated
as endangered, threatened or special concern. COSEWIC - Committee on the Status of
Endangered Wildlife in Canada. SARA - Species at Risk Act.
Since 1962, working with our partners and supporters, we have
helped conserve 14M hectares (35M acres), more than 20x the
size of Banff National Park (6,641 square kilometres)