Nature Canada is thrilled to welcome experts and bird lovers from across Canada and around the world to Ottawa June 19 to 22 for the BirdLife International World Congress. We are delighted to be co-hosting with Bird Studies Canada.

Every five years, BirdLife partners, environmental experts, business, government and community leaders come together for this unparalleled global gathering of grassroots conservationists to share experiences and ideas for making our world a better place for nature and ourselves.

Hundreds of delegates from more than 120 countries will be discussing key conservation challenges and solutions such as combating climate change, ensuring sustainable oceans, conserving natural spaces, and empowering people through individual action and citizen science.

Through “the power of many”, the Congress is an Important chance to forge new partnerships and build long-term strategies to address some of the planet’s toughest conservation challenges.

As BirdLife in Canada, Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada co-deliver the Important Bird Areas program, an initiative that BirdLife International began in Europe in the 1980s. Since that time, BirdLife partners in more than 178 countries and territories have joined together to build the global IBAs network.

Canada’s Important Bird Areas program plays a critical role in national bird conservation efforts. Major support for the program comes from TransCanada Corporation, Wildlife Habitat Canada, and the Government of Canada.

Since 1996 we’ve identified nearly 600 IBAs across Canada’s diverse landscapes. Acting with regional conservation partners, we’ve built an exhaustive IBAs database, finalized almost 100 site conservation plans, helped communities implement more than 150 local projects, and initiated a volunteer network of IBA Caretakers. Working in harmony with bird conservation efforts from local to international levels, Canada’s IBAs Program has become a cornerstone in science-based, site-specific conservation for birds and biodiversity.