Alberta’s wetlands are a keystone ecosystem, found across all the province’s biomes and linked to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that provide essential environmental services and functions. Despite their ecological importance, wetlands have experienced catastrophic loss, with an estimated 60 to 70% decline in central and southern regions over the past century. In response, Alberta implemented successive wetland policies beginning in 1993, culminating in the current Alberta Wetland Policy adopted in 2013 and fully implemented in 2015. This policy aims to deliver social and environmental benefits through water storage, flood mitigation, and biodiversity maintenance.
Over a decade after its adoption, the Environmental Law Centre undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the Wetland Policy’s implementation by Alberta Environment and Parks and the Alberta Energy Regulator. This evaluation assessed regulatory decision-making, the application of mitigation hierarchy principles, and the effectiveness of the policy framework itself. This report presents the results of that evaluation along with law and policy reform recommendations designed to strengthen Alberta’s wetland protection regime. A companion document provides detailed background on the Water Act, the Wetland Policy, and the role of provincial decision-makers in the wetland context.