On March 31, Prime Minister Carney launched a new nature strategy. Two of the commitments are creating 15 national urban parks by 2030, and launching an Expert Taskforce on Natural Capital Accounting and Nature Financing this spring.

The Taskforce “will explore how to better account for the value of nature” and will “develop recommendations aimed at mobilizing private capital for nature positive outcomes.”

Natural capital accounting–valuing ecosystem services such as wild capture fisheries, insect pollination of food crops, and forest carbon sequestration—can in theory inform trade-offs between the economy and environment, avoid the collapse of key economic sectors, and encourage businesses in these sectors to invest in nature.

But it also raises ethical concerns. “Financialization” of nature has led to discredited mechanisms such as carbon trading. Measuring and valuing natural capital has proven to be costly, imprecise and subject to abuse.

A February 2026 article, ”Putting a price tag on nature failed. Can radical tactics save it?,” recommends an alternative: a “biodiversity justice” approach. Scientists working to conserve nature should unite with social movements, Indigenous peoples, and farmers. Recognition of the rights of nature can further expand biodiversity justice to our non-human relatives.

Before retiring from Environment Canada, I worked on the 2012 Canadian Nature Survey. At that time, Canadians were making an estimated $41.3 billion in nature-related expenditures within Canada. These include transportation, accommodations, food, equipment, fees, supplies, investments in land for conservation purposes, and donations to conservation groups. More recently,........

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