Are you familiar with the 30x30 movement?
It refers to efforts by the global community to conserve 30 per cent of terrestrial and marine habitat by the year 2030. What started out as international calls to set aside portions of the globe as protected areas became official policy here in Canada in late 2022. The goal: to halt and reverse nature’s decline.
The plan is a promising vision to create connected, protected areas across the globe that form an extensive network with a variety of habitats. It’s a way to give nature a critically important boost—one that can help reverse the decline in biodiversity, fight climate change and maintain a strong, stable economy.
How we protect our urban natural spaces will determine Canada’s biodiversity over the decades to come, according to Nature Canada. That means we need to both create protected areas and preserve the connectivity between them.
Biodiversity in towns and cities is integral to healthy, sustainable places. It provides benefits to cities including climate regulation, food production, raw materials, recreation, habitat, pollination, water quality and quantity, flood protection, healthy soils and others (ICLEI Primer on Nature in Cities, 2019).
The Mayor’s Task Force on 30x30
Here in Greater Sudbury, the Mayor’s Task Force on 30x30 recently confirmed the feasibility and the benefits of pursuing this conservation goal locally.
“Greater Sudbury has been recognized as a global leader in ecological restoration, and our community enjoys access to vast greenspaces and 330 lakes. This initiative provides a unique opportunity to contribute to the federal government’s 30x30 pledge and to continue to demonstrate how our natural environment mitigates climate change impacts and enhances our quality of life,” said Mayor Paul Lefebvre in April.
The City’s commitment is focused on protecting lands that are publicly owned and managed—such as parklands that they own, open spaces or Crown land, in coordination with the Province.
The 30x30 task force is composed of volunteers who represent a cross-section of the community. The task force is working on a preliminary list of recommended existing greenspace sites that would make good first candidates to be assessed for the federal database this year. They are also working on a community engagement plan that will allow them to consult on these sites and establish a few broader 30x30 goals.
The presence of green space promotes physical activity, stress reduction, cognitive restoration and increased social interaction and cohesion. Green spaces help cool down areas in hot weather and improve air quality (Toronto Public Health, Green City, 2015).
How far we’ve come
Biologist and Naturalist Franco Mariotti, who was a Staff Scientist at Science North, says “Greater Sudbury is the largest municipality by land area in all of Ontario, being nearly 4,000 square kilometres. We are blessed with 330 lakes and an environment that was transformed from one of the worst industrially disturbed ecosystems on the planet to one that is now a thriving forest ecosystem, because of our regreening efforts.”
He remembers a very different city and says that within his lifetime it has changed dramatically. It’s something many people in his generation would attest to.
“In the 1960s and 70s, City Council was struggling with Sudbury’s serious image problem. Decades of industrial degradation resulted in a Sudbury that looked like the moon with a landscape devoid of life, just barren black rock, not to mention that most of the lakes were acid dead,” he says. “No one wanted to move here, nor did the image attract new business.”
The remarkable turnaround is thanks to the collaborative efforts of industry working with political leaders, university scientists and local individuals.
“The mining industry and City politicians came up with a plan to change that image and improve the health of the environment. The result was to empower all Sudburians to be a part of the solution. Forty-plus years later, they/we have succeeded,” he says. “The generation that is growing up now knows only the beautiful, forested Sudbury and lakes that have naturally sustaining fish populations, some of which have become fishing destinations. We have come a long way!”
What’s next?
According to Mariotti, “We now need to sit back for a moment and look at what we have done, and ask ourselves what is the best way to move forward? We need a plan that celebrates what we have achieved, protects that which we have restored and builds on that success.”
Enter the 30x30 movement. “The 30x30 plan is a holistic plan that promotes protecting 30 per cent of its lands and waters by 2030—the premise being that when we live in a healthy, sustainable environment, then the people living here will also be healthy,” he explains. “The plan also promotes Sudbury as a tourist destination for all seasons for its green spaces and quality of life. That same idea will attract new business as well.”
The deadline is challenging, as there are several key steps required to make this happen. The first is to identify the crown and municipal lands that can be protected, explains Mariotti. Then they take those suggestions and share them with Sudburians (individuals, community groups, businesses and Indigenous peoples) to get their input. Throughout this process, the group will need to keep City Council updated on their progress. “It will be a busy next few years!” he says.
They are off to a good start. The group has already met nearly one-third of the 30 per cent goal by identifying existing green spaces that may qualify. Mariotti shares, “Part of the process is submitting lands that may qualify for the 30x30 national program to the federal government on an ongoing basis. Our first deadline is September 15, and we are aiming to submit some suggestions then.”
This work is near and dear to the biologist and naturalist’s heart.
“The natural world has given me—all of us, for that matter—a richness that is difficult to measure,” he says. “Early on in my life I wanted to give back to nature what it gave me and that was and is to open peoples’ eyes as to the wonders of the natural world and how essential it is that we ‘live’ with nature.”
He continues to be involved in community and provincial groups that promote the health of the natural environment, including Greater Sudbury’s Regreening Committee (VETAC), the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee, the Sudbury Naturalists Club and the Mayor’s Task Force on 30x30.
“There is no question that we as humans are threatening the planet, altering ecosystems by climate change and habitat destruction. At this point in our civilization over one million species face extinction. Yet, I am an optimistic person because of what I have seen happen here in Sudbury. We have been able, in one generation, to restore ‘life’ to the once-barren moonscape. The generation growing up now does not even realize that just 40 years ago it was a totally barren ‘moonscape’ environment that my generation grew up in,” says Mariotti.
“Look at us now, the City of Lakes is surrounded by a green forested environment where life is returning. It is an unbelievable success story. Part of the success was empowering Sudburians to be a part of the solution, which was to get them involved in planting trees so that they became a part of the solution to restoring a devastated landscape. It’s something we should all be proud of and it should be celebrated.”
“The lessons of Greater Sudbury need to be passed on to this generation growing up here and how it happened. In doing so, it provides hope to a planet that desperately needs it.”
Learn more about the City of Greater Sudbury and its commitment to reducing greenhouse gases and helping the community achieve its net-zero goal by 2050.
If you have a project you’d like the City to highlight, contact Jennifer Babin-Fenske at [email protected].