Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault Allocates $160 Million for Canadian Peatland and Wetland Carbon Sinks

MONTREAL — Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault announced on Monday the distribution of $160 million in federal conservation funding through the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund to protect, restore, and re-wet 50,000 hectares of degraded peatlands, boreal muskeg bogs, and coastal salt marshes across Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

The investment, delivered in direct co-stewardship with Indigenous nations and non-profit conservation land trusts, re-establishes natural hydrologic water tables by blocking obsolete agricultural and industrial drainage ditches, preventing the decomposition of ancient peat moss that would otherwise release millions of metric tons of stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Protecting the World's Most Efficient Terrestrial Carbon Sinks Canada contains approximately 25 percent of the world's peatlands—storing more than 150 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 25 years of global fossil fuel emissions. Healthy peatlands act as natural carbon vaults while filtering municipal drinking water and providing vital habitat for woodland caribou and migratory waterfowl.

"Canada's peatlands and wetlands are global superpowers in the fight against climate change, storing vast quantities of carbon in deep moss layers built over thousands of years," Minister Steven Guilbeault said in Montreal. "When peatlands are drained, they turn from carbon sinks into massive carbon emitters. This $160 million investment restores 50,000 hectares of vital wetlands, keeping millions of tons of carbon locked safely in the ground, protecting our biodiversity, and supporting Indigenous-led conservation across Canada."

Peatland Restoration Packages Funded The $160 million allocation supports:

• James Bay & Hudson Bay Lowlands Peat Protection: $65 million for Indigenous-led baseline carbon mapping and permanent conservation easements with Cree and Ininiw Nations.
• Prairie Pothole Wetland Reconnection (Manitoba/Alberta): $45 million to restore 20,000 hectares of agricultural wetland depressions.
• Atlantic Salt Marsh Bio-Restoration (NB/NS): $30 million for dyke breaching and native cordgrass planting in the Bay of Fundy.
• National Peatland Carbon Telemetry Registry: $20 million partnering with universities to deploy eddy-covariance flux towers measuring real-time carbon sequestration.

Conservation biologists, Indigenous grand chiefs, and ecological economists commended the federal funding, highlighting that nature-based peatland restoration is one of the most durable and cost-effective climate mitigation investments.