The State of Play Report for Natural Infrastructure on the Canadian Prairies

The report finds that while natural infrastructure (NI) efforts in the Canadian Prairies are nascent and often fragmented as site-specific pilots, there is growing momentum to use conserved, restored, or engineered ecosystems to meet water infrastructure needs. Grey infrastructure remains the default choice due to a lack of standardized valuation tools, limited municipal capacity, and a policy environment that often prioritizes resource development over restoration. The document highlights the critical need for watershed-scale collaboration, the integration of Indigenous knowledge and rights, and the mobilization of diverse capital—including private finance and endowment funds—to bridge the infrastructure gap and address climate-induced risks like floods and droughts.

• Natural infrastructure implementation in the Canadian Prairies is currently in a nascent stage, characterized by a patchwork of site-specific projects rather than landscape-level deployment, while grey infrastructure remains the default option.
• The region faces significant water infrastructure challenges, including a depreciation of water-related grey infrastructure that outpaced investments by nearly CAD 3 billion (21.9%) between 2017 and 2021.
• There is a critical need to prioritize the conservation of existing natural assets over restoration or construction, as intact ecosystems provide more diverse benefits and restoration may take decades or millennia to return full function.
• Building a business case for natural infrastructure is hindered by uncertainty regarding performance measurement, a lack of widespread awareness, and economic frameworks that favor the short-term quantified benefits of grey infrastructure.
• Local governments, particularly smaller municipalities, lack the technical capacity, staffing, and financial resources to design 'shovel-ready' projects or navigate complex federal funding requirements.
• Indigenous-led natural infrastructure, such as Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs), is identified as a key path for reconciliation and biodiversity, though no formal IPCAs have been established in the Prairies region to date.
• Manitoba has implemented a successful funding model using three endowment funds—the Conservation Trust, Wetland Trust, and GROW Trust—totaling CAD 204 million to provide stable, long-term support for conservation.
• Current provincial approval and licensing processes are often designed for resource development and can act as barriers to the implementation of restoration and natural infrastructure projects.
• The insurance sector is beginning to pilot products that incentivize upstream water management to mitigate the rising financial costs of catastrophic insured losses from floods, which have increased tenfold in the last decade.

APA

Méthot, J., Rawluk, A., Roy, D., Saleh, T., & Kroft, E. (2023). The State of Play Report for Natural Infrastructure on the Canadian Prairies. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-05/state-of-play-natural-infrastructure-canadian-prairies.pdf

Chicago

Méthot, Josée, Ashley Rawluk, Dimple Roy, Thomas Saleh, and Emily Kroft. The State of Play Report for Natural Infrastructure on the Canadian Prairies. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2023. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-05/state-of-play-natural-infrastructure-canadian-prairies.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Méthot |first1=Josée |last2=Rawluk |first2=Ashley |last3=Roy |first3=Dimple |last4=Saleh |first4=Thomas |last5=Kroft |first5=Emily |title=The State of Play Report for Natural Infrastructure on the Canadian Prairies |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=May 2023 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-05/state-of-play-natural-infrastructure-canadian-prairies.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mthot2023state, author = {Méthot, Josée and Rawluk, Ashley and Roy, Dimple and Saleh, Thomas and Kroft, Emily}, title = {{The State of Play Report for Natural Infrastructure on the Canadian Prairies}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2023}, month = may, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-05/state-of-play-natural-infrastructure-canadian-prairies.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }