City of Edmonton entrenches Convention on Biological Diversity in its environmental strategic plan

The City of Edmonton, Alberta, is pleased to announce that it has incorporated the tenets of the Convention on Biological Diversity into its long-term environmental planning process.

The Way We Green, the City of Edmonton’s environmental strategic plan, was approved by City Council 20 July, 2011. The plan sets out goals and objectives the City and its citizens must achieve over the next 30 years to make Edmonton a more environmentally sustainable and resilient city in the future. The Way We Green is one of six high-level strategic plans that will guide direct long-term planning in Edmonton.

Edmonton’s strategic plan is anchored by 12 long-term goals, many of which are viewed through the lens of achieving health ecosystems. The first three goals, which focus on land, air and water, specifically discuss the role in biodiversity in ensuring the health of these ecosystems and the vital role that protecting biodiversity plays in environmental sustainability and resilience.

The City of Edmonton was pleased to participate in the development of the Cities Biodiversity Index as well as to support the Convention on Biological Diversity. The City has used the index in Edmonton and will now integrate the goals of the Plan of Action on Subnational Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities for Biodiversity into its long-term environmental strategic plan and its decision-making processes.