In Canada, Indigenous-Led PFPs Set to Deliver Enduring Conservation Outcomes with Global Impact
Press Release
June 19, 2025
Indigenous-led conservation finance initiatives were centre stage at the Salazar Center’s 2025 Conservation Symposium, setting a strong precedent for self-determined sustainable economies and healthy ecosystems for generations to come.
Indigenous communities have been leading environmental stewardship for millennia using Traditional Knowledge that inherently protects the planet’s biodiversity. Using the project finance for permanence (PFP) model, Indigenous communities are securing lasting protections for sensitive ecosystems and long-term financing to sustain stewardship, Guardian programs, conservation efforts, and community-led economic development.
In Canada, four groups of Indigenous Nations are using the PFP model and working with federal, provincial, and territorial governments to protect their territories in the Great Bear Sea, the Northwest Territories, the Qikiqtani region in Nunavut, and the peatlands in Northern Ontario. The federal government has pledged up to $800 million in support of these four Indigenous-led PFPs:
- Great Bear Sea PFP (British Columbia)
- Our Land for the Future PFP (Northwest Territories)
- SINAA Qikiqtani PFP (Nunavut)
- Omushkego Wahkotowin PFP (Northern Ontario)
At the Salazar Center’s International Symposium on Conservation Impact, held on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam territory (at the University of British Columbia) in May 2025, representatives from the four PFPs shared their visions for stewardship in their territories and how PFP funding will support collaborative governance of protected areas and contribute to global “30×30” efforts to protect 30 per cent of lands and waters by 2030.
Coast Funds, which administers conservation financing for the Great Bear Sea PFP, partnered with the Salazar Center on program development and hosted a knowledge exchange, parallel to the conference, with the four Indigenous-led PFPs in Canada.
In a panel on place-based conservation, Coast Funds Chair Dallas Smith, who is a member of Tlowitsis Nation and President of Na̲nwak̲olas Council, reminded conservation leaders that ecosystem protections on their own aren’t enough to ensure a sustainable future for First Nations and their territories.
“You have to do the ecological part, but you have to do the economic part too, for community well-being,” said Dallas.
In the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii, First Nations have demonstrated that, for conservation efforts to have lasting success, governments and partners must also invest in local communities and economies, creating opportunities for Indigenous people to thrive in their homelands.
“It’s not just about 30×30 and it’s not just about conservation goals that were established elsewhere,” said Eddy Adra, Coast Funds CEO. “It’s about community. It’s about self-determined sustainable finance with Indigenous Peoples who have the foresight to take care of the land, which will take care of all of us at the same time.”
Building on this sentiment, Coast Funds remains committed to supporting Indigenous-led conservation by facilitating events, storytelling, and gatherings, and continuing to support peer-peer learning with the First Nations we serve, while also engaging with partners and Indigenous Nations in other parts of the world who are interested in the PFP / Great Bear model.
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