OTTAWA, Ontario — The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, launched consultations with Canadians on the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy for Canada. Canadians are being asked to provide their thoughts on biodiversity priorities and are encouraged to take part in engagement efforts that will take place over the coming months. Although countries are only expected to submit their implementation plans for the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP16 in 2024, Canada is leading the way as one of the first to develop and implement its domestic strategy. …The Government is making steady progress, having protected over 300,000 square kilometers of land since 2015, which is around half the size of Manitoba, and gone from 1 percent to 14 percent of our oceans protected. However, more progress is needed to stop biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems.