Wetlands: A Missing Link in Atlantic Canada’s Climate Change Safeguarding Strategy

By Shawn Graham, Vice President of Ducks Unlimited Canada’s volunteer board of directors.

Atlantic Canadians have growing concerns as we recover from another catastrophic wildfire season that had devastating impacts on our communities and wildlife. The conditions that made 2025 fires so destructive are increasingly likely to happen again. As hotter and drier conditions only add to the risk, frequency and severity of fires, it is time to broaden our vision regarding preparation and adaptation to support our resilience to a changing climate and its consequences.

Continuing to back the brave people who fight the fires with the resources they need is a given, however we can also help them help us by turning our attention to nature-based approaches such as wetlands. Natural wetlands provide so many services that would cost billions to replace with man-made solutions. We know that wetlands provide habitats for over 500 species of fauna and naturally filter contaminants out of the water, but they also help regulate water levels in the area around them, including retaining it during flooding events and storing it during periods of drought when our forests and communities need water most.

Establishing wetland conservation and restoration as a key component to our climate resilience strategy is one important step. The next is helping communities protect themselves by adopting and investing in natural green infrastructure – the use of naturally occurring ecological processes to generate infrastructure outcomes. It involves using nature’s tools, like wetlands, to address challenges such as stormwater runoff, erosion and flooding. Incorporating and maintaining natural infrastructure assets like wetlands in and around our communities are powerful tools in our efforts to mitigate the various consequences of wildfires.

Our Atlantic provinces are no stranger to extreme weather, and we lead the way with many innovative projects. Three years ago, Sackville, New Brunswick became North America’s first accredited “Wetland City”. With its clever adoption of green infrastructure, Sackville has achieved extra resilience against the impacts of floods, droughts and wildfires while also providing refuge to wildlife and recreational opportunities for the community.

Sackville’s leadership is an example worth following as we continue to build in Atlantic Canada. Development features like storm water management ponds and eco-corridors ought to be designed with climate resilience in mind, and planning rules should be adjusted accordingly.

In Moncton, DUC wetlands have helped to address road salt runoff—a growing concern in urban environments. This engineered system uses salt-tolerant plants and natural filtration processes to remove chloride, hydrocarbons and heavy metals from stormwater before it reaches sensitive ecosystems. The Moncton project achieved chloride reductions of up to 93%, demonstrating how DUC’s green infrastructure solutions can effectively improve water quality while supporting biodiversity and delivering long-term environmental benefits.

The environmental non-profit organization Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), where I am a volunteer, has traditionally focused on wetland habitat conservation and restoration. Incorporating sensible green infrastructure like wetlands is not a “cost” but an investment in protecting our property, communities, and environment for the future.

It will take a multi-sectoral approach to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. This is why DUC recently joined a coalition of six national organizations calling on the federal government to dramatically scale up its wildfire response budget to secure much needed resources and planning support, with this in mind. DUC also champions a national initiative called “The Nature Force” in partnership with national property and casualty insurance organizations seeking to showcase the valuable role of natural infrastructure in building climate resilience with pilot projects that generate support for increased investment.

After another frightening wildfire season that saw too many homes and habitats burned, we are calling on like-minded organizations, everyday people, and leaders to help drive change in how we approach investments in nature. Together, we can protect what we have today and what and how we will build tomorrow.