What does nature provide to Canadians?

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Release date: April 11, 2024
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Infographic: What does nature provide to Canadians?
Description: What does nature provide to Canadians?

Ecosystems in Canada provide countless benefits to society, whether through provisioning services, regulating and maintenance services, or cultural services.Note 1

Ecosystem services:

  • Provisioning
    • Food
    • Timber
  • Regulating
    • Flood control
    • Pollination
    • Water purification
    • Global climate regulation
  • Cultural
    • Recreation
    • Spiritual services

Provisioning services:

Goods like food and timber come from nature.


Table 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 1 Contribution to provisioning services (%), by province or territory, 2020 and Type of goods, calculated using Agriculture, Timber, Marine products and Freshwater products units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Contribution to provisioning services (%), by province or territory, 2020
Type of goods
Agriculture Timber Marine products Freshwater products
Province or Territory
Alberta 27 21 0 0
British Columbia 2 38 24 0
Manitoba 12 1 0 40
New Brunswick 0.6 6 9 2
Newfoundland and Labrador 0 0.8 23 0
Northwest Territories 0 0 0 1.7
Nova Scotia 0.4 1.7 32 0
Nunavut 0 0 0 0.3
Ontario 17 10 0 45
Prince Edward Island 1 0.3 5 0
Quebec 8 19 6 2
Saskatchewan 32 3 0 8
Yukon 0 0 0 0
Note: The proportion of ecosystem provisioning service by province and territory is calculated using data on agricultural production, timber production, and fish landings.

Regulating and maintenance services include flood protection and carbon sequestration.

  • 2 million Canadians live within 1 km of a coast
  • More than 10% of the coastal population is protected by salt marshes
  • Salt marshes sequester 785,324 tonnes of carbon per year

Cultural services provide places for people to play and discover.

  • Total number of visits to Canada’s national parks from April 2022 to March 2023: 22,462,078
  • Most visited park: Banff National Park: 4,130,081 visits

Ecosystem and species appreciation: Canada is working to protect its ecosystems.

In 2022, 13.6% of the terrestrial area (land and freshwater) and 14.7% of the marine area was conserved.

Sources: Statistics Canada, table 38-10-0161-01 – Salt marsh ecosystem services account, table 38-10-0170-01 – Coastal population and dwellings by elevation and distance from coastline, table 38-10-0171-01 - Ecosystem services, biomass provisioning services by ecosystem type and type of product; Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2023, Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database, Canadian Protected and Conserved Areas Database - Canada.ca; Parks Canada, 2023, Parks Canada attendance 2022_23 dataset, Parks Canada attendance 2022_23 - Open Government Portal.

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Copyright

Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2024

Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

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