About Us

This is the website of the federal, provincial and territorial working group on biodiversity, which was established following Canada's ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity in December, 1992. The working group was tasked by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) to develop the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy (CBS).

In 1995, the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy was released. By 1996, all Canadian jurisdictions signed a statement of commitment to use the Strategy as a guide to implementing the Convention in Canada.

In 2005, Ministers instructed the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Biodiversity Working Group to develop a corresponding outcomes-based framework for guiding and monitoring implementation of the CBS. The Canadian Biodiversity Outcomes Framework was approved by Ministers responsible for Environment, Forests, Parks, Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Wildlife in October 2006. It will be used to identify and link current and future priorities, to engage Canadians in sustainable resource use planning and implementation, and to report on progress in achieving shared outcomes.

Environment Canada provides the National Focal Point for the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and co-chairs the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Biodiversity Working Group.

In June 2008, in response to a request from CCRM DMs, the ADM-level Biodiversity Steering Group (BSG) was formed to ensure rigorous engagement and management of issues coming from CCRM Ministers that are core to biodiversity management in Canada. The federal, provincial and territorial ADM-level BSG is mandated to:

• Discuss cross-cutting national policy issues related to the Canadian Biodiversity Strategy and Access and Benefits Sharing;
• Provide a forum for discussion of international biodiversity issues of concern to federal, provincial and territorial governments, including developing positions that Canada may take at meetings such as the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity;
• Provide strategic management oversight to the federal, provincial and territorial Biodiversity Working Group, and other relevant task groups; and
• Oversee follow-up work emanating from past CCRM joint meetings that does not fall directly under a specific council, such as the Ecosystem Status and Trends Report (ESTR) and the Information Gap Analysis on Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation, and liaise with other councils to identify cross-cutting issues for CCRM joint meetings when requested by the CCRM host.