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To learn more about our impact in Canada, please read our annual and financial reports.
From our Director
This year marks a milestone for Nature United: our 10-year anniversary as a Canadian charity. While our work in Canada has a much longer history — the first Canadian members joined our global affiliate in 1958, and we were invited to partner with local organizations starting in 2004 — it was 10 years ago that we began to grow roots here. I joined as the first Executive Director in Canada; we opened our first office and welcomed our first Canadian donors, whose vision and trust have nurtured Nature United’s past decade of growth. Reflecting on this milestone, I am struck by three lessons:
First, we must drive impact at multiple scales. Over the last 10 years, our team has worked with local partners to drive tangible outcomes — such as in northern Manitoba, where last year, we kicked off a five-year research partnership to conduct community-driven moose research to inform monitoring, policy and decision-making. Our place-based work is vital for moving our mission forward, and it has also taught us lessons about confronting systemic barriers to large-scale conservation.
Two, conserving nature is not just about wildlife and ecosystems; it also drives economic growth and resilience. Key sectors in Canada rely on nature, from forestry to agriculture. Our growing research shows that Natural Climate Solutions — conserving nature to reduce emissions — can cut costs, reduce risks and boost profits for these sectors and the rural communities that depend on them. Nature United is building the business case for Natural Climate Solutions, and adding policy expertise to our team is just the start.
And three, our approach to working in partnership remains essential in a rapidly changing world. This year’s historic outcome for the Great Bear Sea — which at 10 million hectares is nearly twice the size of Nova Scotia — sets a global standard for marine co-governance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments. Nature United supported the governance partners, brought science and technical expertise, and helped raise $335 million for Indigenous stewardship and economic development. This achievement shows the scale of impact that is possible by working in partnership. These are powerful lessons for our next decade when Canada and the world must be on a new trajectory towards a net-zero, nature-positive world. Our last 10 years have been fruitful, thanks to your support and partnership. Nature United is ready and equipped to make a greater impact in the coming decade.
Thank you for your continued support in building a future where people and nature are united, and ecosystems, communities and economies thrive.
Highlights from Our Year
A glimpse at the solutions, partnerships and impact that we've been advancing for nature and people — read more in our full report.
Celebrating a Decade of Impact
This year, as we reflect on a milestone for Nature United — our 10-year anniversary as a Canadian charity — we look back at the projects and partnerships that have shaped our organization and impact, as well as the lessons that will shape our future.
Read about our global origins, historic agreements in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, our long-term investments in Indigenous Guardians and youth leadership, ground-breaking science, new horizons in sustainable agriculture, building our capacity to advance policy solutions, and so much more.
New Pathways to Finance and Conservation
"If we take care of the land and the water, it’ll take care of us,” says Dani Shaw, Chief Councillor for Wuikinuxv First Nation, one of many First Nations that depend on the Great Bear Sea. These words speak to the importance of these rich, diverse marine ecosystems — which span 10 million hectares off the coast of British Columbia — to the people who have lived there for tens of thousands of years. This year, we celebrated a historic agreement that will protect and sustainably manage the Great Bear Sea's dense kelp forests, rich estuaries, sponge and coral gardens, and the wildlife and communities that depend on them, including supporting sustainable economic development.
Read about this global milestone for marine conservation and Indigenous co-governance.
Uniting Knowledge Systems
Nío Nę P’ęnę́, a vast region that spans over 7.9 million hectares along the border between the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, is changing. Indigenous Elders have observed declining wildlife, melting permafrost, increased wildfire activity and human disturbance. But new collaborative tools are integrating Indigenous knowledge and science to confront these changes and protect this sacred landscape for people and wildlife.
Read about the Nío Nę P’ęnę́ Knowledge Hub and how its ensuring a future for caribou, and safeguarding the languages, laws, and ways of life of Shúhtaot’ınę, Métis, and Tu Łidlini Dena peoples.
Collaborating with Indigenous Partners
A 14-hour bus ride from Manitoba to Ontario — through boreal forests dotted with black spruce, jack pine, and numerous lakes — marked the start of a five-year research collaboration of First Nations to advance community-led moose management. The destination was a gathering hosted by Wahkohtowin, a social enterprise comprised of community members from three First Nations in Ontario, which revolved around their annual construction of a birchbark canoe and facilitated knowledge-sharing, connection and identifying shared priorities.
Read more about this project, which will weave both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems together to better understand moose populations and inform decision-making related to land-use planning, wildlife monitoring, research priorities, policy and management strategies.
Report
2024 Our Impact
From working with local communities to advancing large-scale conservation, see how our team and partners are supporting nature and people across Canada.
2024
2020
2018
2017
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See the impact we’ve made in addressing the world’s greatest challenges as we reimagine conservation in Canada.
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2017 Financial Statements
Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2017
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2017 Global Annual Report
Read about our work in The Nature Conservancy's 2017 Global Annual Report. (Canada story begins on page 4.)
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2014-2016
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2014-2016 Impact Report
See the difference we've made in our priority regions—Great Bear Rainforest, Northwest Territories, Clayoquot Sound and the Boreal Forest—and meet the partners, supporters and staff who helped make it happen.
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2015 Financial Statement
Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2015
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