Ontario’s Greenbelt was…

Ontario’s Greenbelt was designated and protected in 2005.

There was a reason for this…

Urban sprawl can grow unchecked without regulation, destroying ecosystem services we need for a healthy environment. It was recognized that

1) development should not occur on prime agricultural land - this is a limited resource and we need to eat

2) native species are entitled to supportive natural landscapes

3) natural landscapes provide services such as flood mitigation, air quality enhancement, temperature moderation. These are good things for us

As Ontarians we need to…

Protect our environment for our needs:
food security
clean water
clean air
climate regulation

2) Protect our environment for healthy ecosystems:
1) species habitat
2) biodiversity
3) landscape connectivity (ways for species to move safely between suitable habitat to get enough resources to survive)

3) Protect wetlands and floodplains for
1) species habitat
2) nutrient flows
3) flood mitigation
4) and as buffers against climate change

4) Protect species at risk, of which there are 78 in the Ontario Greenbelt, 11 of these along the route of proposed highway 413

5) Prevent development in floodplains by respecting the expertise of the Conservation Authorities

6) Respect the needs of future generations by being good stewards of the land. It is a non-renewable resource.
1) Once you have paved over it, you cannot get it back
2) Once you destroy a species habitat, that species is lost
3) Prime farmland is a limited resource