Exploring the SHAPE of Nature
New website paints a picture of biodiversity in Canada including key measures we are tracking.
When Canadians think about our country’s landscape and wildlife, we tend to embrace the “travel brochure” view of the country – big open spaces, vast forests, thousands of deep blue lakes and rushing rivers. 

And in some places in Canada that picture still exists today. But it is also a misleading perception of both the real state of nature and where we are headed when it comes to wildlife and wild places across the country.

Our new SHAPE of Nature website takes a detailed look at how biodiversity is faring in Canada. SHAPE stands for Species, Habitats, Actions and Policies. There is not one single measure that can capture whether things are getting better or worse for nature. That’s why our Shape of Nature initiative uses a suite of evaluations to describe where we are at when it comes to protecting biodiversity. It brings multiple perspectives to the critical question of whether Canada is following in the footsteps of other countries that have seen wild places all but disappear and wildlife pushed toward extinction.
These measures matter because while this country's north includes some of the last big wild places left on the planet, that doesn’t mean wildlife can escape the combined threats of development and climate change. Meanwhile, many ecosystems, especially in heavily developed regions like southern Ontario and southern BC, are tattered fragments of what they once were. We have hundreds of wild species that could slip into extinction if we don’t take action.

We can only improve our treatment of the globally important wild spaces that remain across Canada if we fully understand how they are faring. Then we need the will to address the challenges our evaluations reveal – from landscape fragmentation that is much more extensive than most of us realize to the growing impacts of climate change on wildlife and wild spaces.

SHAPE of Nature provides an easy-to-understand picture of where things are now -- and a window on where we are headed. We’ll be adding and updating information throughout the year so we can all better understand the shape of nature in Canada.

A quick look back
On any given day, WCS Canada scientists may be tracking tiny songbirds in boreal forests, analyzing the growing impact of noise from ships on Arctic whales or collecting bat guano from under Prairie bridges. 

It’s this hands-on work that we feature in our just published annual review. The review is also our chance to explain how we use our science to advance new conservation approaches, whether it is the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas or driving a better understanding of the vital climate services of Canada’s vast peatlands and working with Indigenous communities toward their conservation.

This work is made possible by donors, large and small, who have stepped up to support one of Canada’s most innovative conservation science organizations. Together we are making a better future for wildlife and wild places across Canada.
Last year, we launched a study of thick-billed murres in the Western Arctic to better understand how climate change is affecting these wide-ranging birds and their food sources.
The challenging work that we do in some of the most remote corners of Canada is all about securing a better future for our wildlife and wild places. We are working on conservation solutions from sustainable resource development approaches and guiding Canada’s protected area targets to working with Indigenous communities to conserve some of the planet's largest forests and peatlands. 

Want to make a difference for wildlife?

This month, every dollar you donate to WCS Canada increases our chances of winning a $20,000 prize in the Canadian Giving Challenge. That funding can support our priority conservation work across Canada — from tracking lake sturgeon to deploying a new treatment to help protect bats from deadly white-nose syndrome. Stand for Wildlife by supporting our important research today!
Top banner image: Rusty patched bumble bee by the USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab