Partners and funders
Meet our SOLUTIONSCAPES partners
SOLUTIONSCAPES is a highly synergistic project that relies on partnerships with the private sector, governments, NGOs, and watershed organizations to ground our research and support a practical approach to our work. These powerful collaborations contribute new insights, local knowledge, lived experience, and a sophisticated understanding of the tradeoffs and synergies that exist at the nexus of climate, water, and food. Our partners play a critical role in knowledge co-production throughout the project, and in the development of deliverables that are compatible with partner needs.
SOLUTIONSCAPES is grateful to have the support and input from its multitude of partners:
Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is an 85-year old non profit organization that works to conserve, restore and manage wetlands and associated habitats for the benefit of North America’s waterfowl. They are particularly interested in ways to effectively use wetlands as nature-based solutions towards net-zero goals. To do so, they recognize that it is critically important to conduct research in a way that abandons disciplinary silos and work across the food, water and energy sectors.
Canadian Water Network (CWN) is an independent non-profit that brings communities closer to the future they want by accelerating, advancing and improving water management decisions. They are motivated by the need for aligned and meaningful connections across the water sector and beyond, particularly other sectors with related and adjacent interests, to achieve progress on complex environmental, social and economic challenges. CWN believes their work aligns with SOLUTIONSCAPES in enabling leadership and innovation in working landscapes.
Canadian Biogas Association (CBA) is the collective voice of the biogas and renewable natural gas (RNG) industry in Canada, consisting of a diverse membership of over 150 companies including farmers, municipalities, technology developers, consultants, utilities, finance and insurance firms, and other affiliate representatives. Their vision is to develop the Canadian biogas industry to its fullest potential. One of the areas of focus for SOLUTIONSCAPES is on biogas, so CBA is interesting in understanding how to maximize GHG emissions reductions, carbon sequestration, and water quality protection through the development of new biogas facilities.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is the federal ministry responsible for supporting the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector through initiatives that promote innovation and competitiveness. They are interested in using findings from this research to develop adaptation strategies that address climate change while strengthening water resource sustainability for agriculture. There are opportunities for SOLUTIONSCAPES to connect with AAFC’s work through its Living Laboratories projects in the Eastern Prairies and Ontario.
Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) is an Ontario government ministry responsible for the food, agriculture and rural sectors of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are looking forward to having access to critical insights on the implementation of nature-based solutions that address food security, energy sustainability, and GHG emission reduction priorities. The project aligns with topics that are extremely topical in Ontario right now, such as biogas generation.
ALUS is a charitable organization that works with national, regional and community partners to deliver nature-based solutions on agricultural land. They are interested in the outputs to help them refine their programming as a complement to the modeling and quantification work that they are currently leading.
Conservation Ontario represents Ontario’s 36 Conservation authorities. Conservation authorities ensure the conservation, restoration and responsible management of Ontario's water, land and natural habitats through programs that balance human, environmental and economic needs. Conservation authorities have extensive natural heritage and conservation expertise. Toronto and Region Conservation Authority jurisdiction spans six upper-tier and 15 lower-tier municipalities, representing almost five million people. Grand River Conservation Authority manages water and other natural resources on behalf of 39 municipalities in Ontario and close to one million residents. The GRCA and TRCA have a long history of implementing ecological restoration programs and nature-based solutions that improve the health of natural systems in the face of rapid land use and climatic changes.
Together, these three organizations – Conservation Ontario, TRCA and GRCA – believe several outputs from the project will be helpful to their organizations, including the project’s grid-scale map outputs, the quantification of co-benefits from different solution scenarios, and improved estimates of greenhouse gas emissions across the life cycle of the food system.
