Alberta Claims to Meet 30×30 Targets by Classifying All Public Land as “Protected”

CPAWS Southern and Northern Alberta are concerned by the Government of Alberta’s recent misleading claim that the province has already achieved an international commitment to conserve 30% of land and water by 2030 by stating that all public lands can be counted as protected areas.

The 30×30 initiative arose from the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and commitments by signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity to conserve at least 30% of land and water by 2030. The Framework and the Convention were driven by significant declines in biodiversity around the world. Canada and Alberta have experienced , and continue to experience, both species losses and large population declines of many species. Canada has pledged to meet the target through a combination of national, provincial, and Indigenous-led protected areas.

Currently, only about 15% of Alberta’s land is formally classified as protected. Yet, the province appears to be side-stepping its responsibility to reach the 30×30 target by simply ‘relabeling’ public lands as protected areas. This is in spite of the fact that the majority of Alberta’s public lands are managed as multi-use landscapes including activities such as logging, mining, oil and gas, and grazing, and biodiversity continues to decline in the province.

The Government of Alberta claims that the federal government’s reporting measures rely on “narrow definitions of protected land,” yet the definitions of protected areas were developed through years of collaboration at local and international levels and are proven as effective tools for biodiversity conservation. Alberta’s own legislation recognizes distinct categories of protected areas, and a proper understanding of both this legislation and the policies driving initiatives like 30×30 further highlight the important role that protected areas play in conserving biodiversity and preventing further loss. In contrast, across much of Alberta’s so-called “working landscapes,” biodiversity is in continual decline, showing that the “strict land use rules and regulations” that the Government of Alberta cites are insufficient for fighting the biodiversity crisis.

The global 30×30 target is clear that protected areas and “Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures” (OECMs) must be managed so they result in positive outcomes for biodiversity to qualify as contributing. While some protected areas and OECMs may allow low-impact activities like hunting, fishing, gathering, or tourism, Alberta’s public lands as a whole, and the large-scale industrial activity they permit, do not meet this standard.

“We are disappointed by the Government of Alberta’s attempt to portray that it has fulfilled its responsibility to 30×30, and biodiversity conservation, when the province is little more than halfway there,” says Katie Morrison, Executive Director of CPAWS Southern Alberta. “You can’t meet conservation targets by redefining what ‘protected’ means. If land is open to logging and coal mining, it’s not protected.”

Protected areas are not only important for protecting and conserving biodiversity, and mitigating the impacts of climate change, but they are also an incredibly important economic driver in Alberta and Canada as a whole. The federal government has also allocated $3.8 billion to conservation through 2030. Alberta must take advantage of this opportunity to deploy these funds in Alberta rather than participating in political grandstanding.

Importantly, CPAWS Southern and Northern Alberta submitted a Freedom of Information request on the results of 2024 Alberta’s Nature Strategy engagement, which revealed that the vast majority of Albertans who engaged expect the government to take meaningful conservation action, with strong support for expanding protected areas and taking bold steps to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. There was very little support for maintaining business as usual.

Some key results and themes summarized from the engagement results include:

• Many respondents expressed a strong desire for Alberta to commit to protecting 30% of its land by 2030 and to take bold steps to halt biodiversity loss.
• There was a strong consensus on the importance of protected areas in conserving nature and maintaining biodiversity (the vast majority of stakeholders, Indigenous groups, and public agree with this). Many public respondents emphasized the importance of establishing new conservation areas and the expansion of existing parks, completing land use planning in the province, and protecting headwaters.
• Many respondents called for more robust conservation efforts, including the expansion of protected areas, better enforcement of environmental regulations, and increased funding for conservation programs.
• Respondents were most likely to state that Alberta’s government is not making progress towards conserving, managing and restoring nature. Many comments focused on the negative impact of industrial activities such as mining, logging, and agriculture on biodiversity and ecosystem health.
• Many respondents expressed skepticism about the government’s commitment to genuine environmental protection. They believe that the government’s actions often prioritize economic gains over ecological sustainability. There is a strong sentiment that the government is more interested in exploiting natural resources than in preserving them.
• Strong support for integrating Indigenous Knowledge into conservation planning, which is in line with the global 30×30 requirement that all activities must respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including over their traditional territories.
• The results from the FOIP are not a surprise. Albertans have expressed support for more parks and better conservation measures in public polling and other Government engagements.

“Pretending that we can reverse the crisis simply by continuing practices that have resulted in the losses of nature we have already experienced doesn’t just put biodiversity and the health of our lands and waters at further risk,” says Kecia Kerr, Executive Director of CPAWS Northern Alberta, “It is also a missed opportunity for reconciliation and for the long-term economic sustainability of our province. Protected areas generate billions of dollars each year through tourism, recreation, and ecosystem services. Albertans have said over and over again that they want more actual protected areas. Ignoring the crisis and Albertans puts the health of our landscapes, the communities that rely on them, and the economic benefits that nature provides in further jeopardy. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

Albertans continue to call for strong leadership, transparency, and real action on conservation and biodiversity loss. This latest move by the government is yet another blow to that trust.