On January 20, 2020, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, announced $200,000 in funding through the federal government’s Climate Action Fund, including $100,000 for Assiniboine Park Conservancy and $100,000 for Eco-West Canada.

The Climate Action Fund provides up to $3 million annually to support projects delivered by students, youth, Indigenous peoples and organizations, not-for-profit organizations, small and medium-sized businesses, and research and educational institutions that raise awareness of climate change and encourage others to take meaningful climate action.

Assiniboine Park Conservancy will work with youth to identify key barriers they face to effective climate change action and collaboratively create a social media campaign to address those barriers. This project will help young Canadians raise awareness and build skills to influence positive change on the environment.

“As an organization committed to environmental education, we are always looking for ways to inspire the next generation of climate champions,” said Bruce Keats, chief operations officer of the Assiniboine Park Conservancy. “We worked collaboratively with the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Polar Bears International, and five Manitoba high schools to provide students with an immersive and potentially life-changing experience designed to help them identify, understand, and break down barriers to climate change action through effective communication. We are grateful for the support of Environment and Climate Change Canada for this program.”

Eco-West Canada will work with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to raise awareness and provide risk mitigation training to municipalities across the Prairies. These partnerships will allow communities to develop climate action and resiliency plans.

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“The Business-Climate Initiative was created in order to increase the capacity of small and medium-sized businesses to recognize the risks and impacts of climate change on their sector while providing them with the tools to increase their resilience and, thus, their economic sustainability,” said Dany Robidoux, executive director of Eco-West Canada. “Eco-West Canada is proud to partner with the federal government for the delivery of this initiative. The successful implementation of Eco-West Canada’s municipal green infrastructure and sustainable economic development projects in Western Canada would not be possible without the support of the federal government.”

A total of 19 projects were selected for funding from the 2019–20 Climate Action Fund intake.

For further information on the Climate Action Fund recipients, click here.

Featured image from Assiniboine Park Conservancy.

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