What wildlife live in this region?

The traditional territory of the Mushkegowuk Cree extends from subarctic permafrost in the north, also home to polar bears, all the way to boreal forest in the region’s south, where you’ll find species like wolverine, caribou and lynx.

The middle swath of peatlands, a vast complex of wetlands and coastal areas, are also a globally important habitat for birds, from palm warblers and loons to a whole host of other migratory waterfowl and shorebirds.

It’s an area of importance in terms of climate change mitigation, but it also has tremendous biological and ecological value.

What’s threatening the peatlands?

Short term: Upstream of Mushkegowuk territory is the so-called Ring of Fire, a hotbed of mineral deposits. In January 2021, the Chiefs of the Mushkegowuk Nations and the Grand Chief called for a development moratorium on mining and industrial roads until there’s a proper protection plan for sensitive wetlands and watersheds as well as gathering the necessary baseline information to understand the impact of industrial activities on carbon storage. A few months later, the Attawapiskat, Fort Albany and Neskantaga First Nations unilaterally declared a moratorium, stating their “Territories and Rights stand to be seriously and permanently desecrated by massive-scale mining in the Ring of Fire,” and adding that “the James Bay lowlands stand as one of the last and most important bastions of defence against climate collapse.”

Long term: If a peatland is disturbed, drained or altered, the stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere — shifting the ecosystem from a sink to a source of carbon dioxide. Methane is another prominent greenhouse gas found in peatlands, and it is nearly 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

Consequently, rather than reducing the effects of climate change, these disturbed peatlands do the reverse and contribute to climate breakdown. This would not only jeopardize our progress on climate action, but further accelerate the climate crisis.

Protecting one of the world’s largest peatland complexes in the HJBL from releasing its stored carbon is critical not only for Mushkegowuk and the Omushkego people but also for our country’s climate targets and people around the planet. The lands are also critical to safeguarding wetland and coastal wildlife, including migratory birds, that call it home.

What’s next?

On request of the Mushkegowuk Council, community-led field sampling of these peatlands, designed to weave together both scientific research and Indigenous knowledge systems, will be done in partnership with researchers from WWF-Canada and the Remote Sensing Lab at McMaster University to help inform their stewardship decisions.

These efforts will help advance Indigenous-led conservation in a globally significant area for carbon storage, biodiversity and culture while delivering benefits to local communities. It will also provide important information to support decisions made in environmental assessments underway for the Ring of Fire, for which the Council is calling for a revised co-governance structure that goes beyond “duty to consult.”

And this carbon mapping and research will produce crucial data to help Canada prioritize nature-based climate solutions to achieve our greenhouse gas reduction targets, through both avoided emissions and active carbon sequestration. If done in concert with new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, it could make a critical contribution to ensuring that Canada’s recently announced pledge to protect 30 percent of land and waters by 2030 is achieved in an equitable and inclusive way.