With the longest coastline in the world, spanning >240,000 kilometres, conserving and restoring tidal wetland habitat in Canada is of critical importance. Tidal wetlands¹ (due to language inconsistency in available documentation, this definition can include saltmarsh, and sometimes referred to as coastal wetlands) and seagrass meadows provide benefits to retaining existing carbon stocks and through additional future sequestration, biodiversity (local and migratory), coastal resilience and risk mitigation, flood attenuation, erosion and sediment control, and habitat for species.  

 The Conservation Opportunity Assessment for Tidal Wetland and Seagrass Habitat in Eastern Canada will assess the technical feasibility of applying the current available methodology (VM0033/VM0052 and other potentially applicable protocols outside of VCS) to quantify net greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and removals from tidal wetland restoration and conservation to Eastern Canada and explore and outline opportunities outside of carbon that could attract investment to tidal wetland habitats in support of conservation and restoration projects through a variety of beneficial outcomes (i.e.: risk mitigation, biodiversity, water quality/quantity, habitat for species), beyond traditional philanthropic funding channels.   

 NCC will contract a firm or individual to engage with partners in the blue carbon, tidal habitat conservation, and broader blue carbon (and other tidal outcomes) space as needed to a) evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of VM0033 and VM0052 in Eastern Canada and b) evaluate opportunities that exist locally, globally, in emerging markets, or are at the conceptual stage to achieve outcomes in tidal wetland conservation and restoration. 

 Through this opportunity assessment, NCC hopes to better understand the applicability (technical, financial, spatial, and potential opportunity) of: 

• carbon-based opportunities to Eastern Canada that can support tidal wetland and seagrass conservation and/or restoration (including, but not limited to, VM0033 and VM0052); and  

• other non-carbon⁶ mechanisms to engage in investment for conservation outcomes derived from tidal wetland and seagrass conservation and/or restoration.