Nature Canada, with support from RBC Foundation, is working on the Nature Positive Cities initiative, which is helping individuals, groups and municipalities protect and restore nature in communities across Canada. This work is helping to address both biodiversity loss and climate change: planting trees, for example, keeps cities cool, absorbs carbon, creates habitat for birds and wildlife, and provides a buffer against extreme weather events such as flooding.

We spoke to Thea Silver, Senior Director, Environmental Impact, RBC about RBC Foundation’s vital support of this initiative, and how RBC and RBC Foundation are helping to strengthen communities.

Why does the RBC Foundation support Nature Canada?

• RBC Foundation has a long history of supporting community-led environmental initiatives – and this commitment continues today. Back in 2007, RBC launched the Blue Water Project, which was a 10-year global charitable commitment of $50 million to help protect our freshwater resources. In 2019, we launched RBC Tech for Nature, where we committed $100M by 2025 to accelerate tech-based solutions that help preserve our natural ecosystems. And now, through our People and Planet framework we have committed $2 billion in community investments by 2035 to support projects that address the interconnectedness of global challenges including that of climate change and biodiversity loss.
• Strengthening communities is also at the heart of RBC’s purpose and healthy nature is an important part of healthy communities. Nature Canada recognizes this and operates as a community of communities, drawing strength from individuals as well as from more than 1400 local nature groups. And cities have an important role to play too. Over 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban areas, and these areas host some of our country’s richest biodiversity. Through its Nature Positive Cities program, Nature Canada is engaging individuals, groups and municipalities to protect and restore nature in cities and towns across Canada. This not only helps to conserve biodiversity and contribute to climate change adaptation but also benefits social cohesion and local economic opportunities. These are the types of outcomes RBC Foundation aims to support.

How does collaborating together help build resilient communities to halt and reverse climate change and nature loss?

• RBC Foundation understands that the most effective community work is community-led and brings different perspectives and skills together. Collaboration is key. That philosophy guides Nature Canada’s work to advance nature positive cities. Nature Canada puts a strong emphasis on “matchmaking” – connecting individuals, groups and municipalities interested in nature-based climate solutions – and empowering them to drive solutions together. The vision of the Nature Positive Cities initiative is of livable, biodiverse, climate-resilient municipalities – created by the people who live and work in them – and this is something RBC Foundation is proud to help support.
• Nature Positive Cities takes an on-the-ground, localized approach, focusing on the front lines of climate impact – urban areas. It aims to restore natural features like wetlands, woodlands, rivers, meadows, nesting areas and pollinator gardens – areas that act as a “first responders network”, buffering climate impacts while safeguarding biodiversity.
• When we drain wetlands, cut down forests or pave over natural habitats, we lose biodiversity and undercut nature’s ability to counteract climate change. With RBC Foundation’s support for Nature Positive Cities, Nature Canada is helping to reverse this trend, enabling thousands of nature lovers to connect their interest in nearby nature with the bigger issue of climate change – turning concern into hope and action by demonstrating that change starts in their own communities.

How does RBC Foundation approach funding to creating lasting impact?

• RBC Foundation strives to support community partners in achieving positive environmental outcomes that have lasting benefits for communities. We recognize though, that environmental change doesn’t happen overnight and that for this to happen, we need to support projects in different ways at different times. Some projects we support will have immediate tangible impacts on-the-ground; others will help to remove barriers or advance enabling conditions, leading to positive outcomes in the future. By using our community investments to help seed, scale, and sustain climate mitigation and nature-based solutions, we aim to support initiatives ‘where they are at’ and ultimately help contribute to long-term impacts.
• The beauty of projects like Nature Canada’s Nature Positive Cities is that they deliver both. By engaging local citizens and groups in designing and delivering restoration, stewardship and resiliency projects in their cities, the project has immediate tangible results. But by also developing science-based standards and working cross-sectorally to certify municipalities as ‘Bird Friendly’, the project aims to embed nature stewardship and threat reduction into longer-term policies and plans. When communities across Canada take steps to restore and protect nature, those efforts collectively strengthen our climate resilience and people’s connection to the environment. That’s the kind of lasting impact we are proud to support.