Greenbelt report offers toolkit for municipalities; protecting nature is Ontario’s smartest investment

Long before modern religion and early government were used to grip humans, the natural world served as both spiritual guide and all-encompassing constitution.

It was a power far beyond us. 

The oceans and rivers were seen as living beings that nurtured life, allowing humans to thrive…if we learned how to take care of a world that taught us how to forge our future. 

The land and air were similarly revered as part of the vast universe that sustains all life and creates order.

But somewhere along the way, those traditions were swallowed up by a new order, where a more self-serving type of spiritual achievement and material belief defined human progress.

Now, as many of us recognize the ruinous toll the last two hundred years of human civilization have taken, we are again looking to the natural world to guide us.

A new report from the Greenbelt Foundation does just that.

As Ontario’s cities continue their boundless expansion, budgets struggle to keep up and climate pressures mount, more local governments are beginning to recognize the natural world in their midst not just as environmental features, but as critical infrastructure—a much more profound type of “asset”.

The Greenbelt Foundation recently released its Natural Asset Management: Advancing Policy Innovation and Municipal Leadership report. It makes the case that protecting ecosystems may be one of the most effective and cost-efficient tools available for climate adaptation.

“We’re seeing a really positive shift. There's a move away from viewing natural resources as commodities to be exploited like trees just for lumber to seeing them as living assets that provide a broad spectrum of services like stormwater management, carbon sequestration, biodiversity support, and cooling effects in urban areas, among others,” Shelley Petrie, director of programs, research, and policy at the Greenbelt Foundation, told The Pointer.

“Municipalities are beginning to understand that, just like roads or bridges, natural assets need to be maintained and integrated into planning and budgeting. It’s about valuing nature not just for what it gives us today, but for how it sustains us tomorrow.”

Released August 20, the report outlines 24 practical actions that municipalities can take to integrate natural asset management, the intentional identification, valuation, and stewardship of ecosystems, into planning, infrastructure, and financial decision-making.

The Greenbelt Foundation report highlights the practice of Natural Asset Management (NAM) as a vital approach for municipalities to recognize, value, and manage natural assets as essential infrastructure. It encourages local governments to adopt two key strategies: first, integrating natural assets, such as forests, wetlands, and waterways, into traditional asset management plans alongside roads and bridges, allowing municipalities to balance the services, costs, and risks these assets provide; and second, embedding natural assets and their ecosystem services into broader municipal policies, including official plans, climate action strategies, development guidelines, and tree protection bylaws. The dual approach not only helps safeguard natural resources but also elevates their importance in land-use decisions and budgeting processes. The report supports council members with clear recommended actions, explanations of the benefits to communities, and examples of successful implementation, offering a practical roadmap to protect and restore natural systems while enhancing municipal resilience and sustainability.

(Greenbelt Foundation)

These assets already perform essential services: wetlands store floodwaters, aquifers provide clean drinking water, forests cool cities and filter air, and tree canopies reduce extreme heat. 

Yet despite their value, these ecosystems are often unrecognized and excluded from municipal asset management plans.

This omission is especially alarming in Ontario, where unchecked urban sprawl and development have gutted ecosystems. 

Over the last century, city growth has doubled, disturbing nearly 216,000 square kilometres of intact forests between 2000 and 2013; more than 80 percent of Ontario’s original forests and wetlands have been lost to urbanization, forestry, and industrial development, a World Wildlife Fund report warned.

The province’s farmland is also disappearing. Ontario is losing 319 acres of farmland every day, the equivalent of one average family farm, according to Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census of Agriculture.

Ontario’s wetlands store 29 billion tonnes of carbon, act as natural sponges that reduce flooding, and provide critical habitat for 20 percent of the province’s species at risk.

Southern Ontario has lost more than 70 percent of its original wetlands, 90 percent in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) alone, a 2007 report by the Ministry of Natural Resources states. 

“This rate of loss is among the highest recorded on the planet. Many factors cause wetland loss, including land conversion for development, pollution from industrial agriculture and climate change,” a report by Ontario Nature noted.

This loss contributes “to a loss of wildlife, more carbon emissions and a greater risk of flooding for millions of people.”

The Ontario Professional Planners Institute has called urban sprawl “Ontario’s oilsands,” a major driver of increased carbon emissions. In 2022, Ontario’s carbon emissions surged back to pre-pandemic levels, with the province producing 157 megatonnes of greenhouse gases, up 5.7 percent from 2020, the latest annual national inventory of emissions highlighted.

Climate impacts are already visible. Flooding remains the most immediate threat for the GTA and Peel Region, driven by climate change–induced rainfall. 

In 2023, the province’s Climate Change Impact Assessment report flagged flooding as both high risk and Ontario’s most expensive natural hazard. 

That same year, Ontario endured its worst wildfire season on record: 17.2 million hectares burned, an area larger than the United Kingdom, forcing 230,000 people to evacuate and driving insured damages close to $1 billion. Once considered a distant concern, the threat became all too real this summer with wildfires reaching closer to home in the Kawartha Lakes region.

In the summer of 2024, Ontario storms caused more than $1 billion in insured damage, $940 million from a single July event, making it the second-costliest flood season in provincial history, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario projects climate hazards could add $4.1 billion annually to public infrastructure costs by 2070. With proactive, climate-resilient investments, that figure could be reduced to about $3 billion per year.

The Greenbelt Foundation report aims to encourage those investments, spotlighting examples across Ontario, including from Peel Region.

It points to Mississauga’s Stormwater Master Plan as a leading case, noting how the city explicitly incorporates natural assets such as wetlands and green spaces into its broader stormwater strategy.

But it might have taken Mississauga both time and some hard lessons to reach this point.

Mississauga has had a stormwater management strategy in place since 2021, addressing both engineered stormwater infrastructure and natural assets. 

“The City of Mississauga has completed condition and maturity assessments for its stormwater assets but notes they do a poor job of assessing natural assets because the focus is on engineered assets,” a Municipal Natural Assets Initiative report noted at the time.

On June 15, 2023, the city adopted its first comprehensive stormwater strategy, “Build Beautiful,” which included the aim of protecting, restoring and maintaining the city’s “natural infrastructure”. 

In its 2023 Build Beautiful Stormwater Master Plan, Mississauga explicitly highlights natural infrastructure, such as wetlands, watercourses, and vegetative areas, as vital for flood resilience, recognizing their essential role in protecting the community while supporting the environment.

(Build Beautiful/City of Mississauga)

It also valued the city’s stormwater infrastructure at $5.3 billion in 2021 and projected an operating budget rising from $44.6 million in 2022 to $47.3 million by 2025.

A year later, city officials found out that this estimate would fall short.

Severe flooding struck the city on July 16 and again on August 17 and 18, 2024, both classified as “100-year storms” due to record-breaking rainfall within short time spans.

Since 2016, Mississauga has already invested more than $265 million in stormwater upgrades, with an additional $311 million committed through 2034.

A $30 million increase to the stormwater budget was approved for 2025, alongside additional funding for sewer upgrades and new staffing.

After the flooding, the city also rolled out targeted initiatives across multiple wards, including storm sewer capacity reviews, land acquisition for major flood mitigation projects like the Dixie-Dundas bridge replacement, and new pumping stations in flood-prone neighbourhoods like Lisgar. 

Emergency upgrades, like the installation of a 1.2-metre temporary floodwall along Little Etobicoke Creek, are already in place, and real-time monitoring of 1,300 stormwater inlets is helping to reduce future risks.

A 1.2-metre floodwall was installed along Little Etobicoke Creek. Resident Rahul Mehta believes Mississauga needs to improve public engagement by increasing transparency around stormwater management, suggesting that if residents had access to real-time data on the performance of local infrastructure, data that the city already collects but doesn’t share, they would be more likely to understand the value of these investments and take action to protect their own properties. “Residents are skeptical about the city’s commitment to stormwater management because they don’t see the impact of these investments on a day-to-day basis. If we had more transparency, if people could see real-time data on how our infrastructure is performing, maybe they’d be more willing to invest in their own homes and neighbourhoods,” Mehta explained.

(City of Mississauga) 

Local environmentalist and advocate for sustainable infrastructure, Rahul Mehta, says Mississauga is making strides in addressing its flooding issues, but there’s still a long way to go in creating a truly climate-resilient city.

“It’s great to see some improvements and investments, I still feel like we’re not doing enough. The fact is, we were already in a precarious situation when it comes to flooding,” Mehta noted. 

“Our city is designed for suburban sprawl, parking minimums, single-family homes, warehouses everywhere, and it’s extremely paved and hot. This makes it easier for us to put in improvements, but it’s also because we started from such a difficult position."

Between 1981 and 2010, Mississauga experienced higher average annual temperatures, with satellite imagery revealing urban heat hotspots, particularly in commercial and industrial zones, exacerbated by the city’s sprawling, built-up landscape.

(Region of Peel)

He was among the Meadowvale residents whose basements flooded during last summer’s heavy storms; the damage wasn’t severe, but it was enough to reveal how unprepared some parts of the city remain.

“I was living with a roommate in a basement…From the floods last year, we had basement flooding. So we were directly impacted…It caused damage to the walls and floors of two rooms. They were both bedrooms. So that was frustrating,” Mehta said.

“A lot of my work colleagues have had similar experiences.”

In response, Mississauga introduced two major rebate programs launching in February 2025. The Basement Flooding Prevention Rebate provides up to $7,500 for eligible improvements like sump pumps or backwater valves. The Flood Resilience Rebate covers 50 percent of costs, up to $3,000, for water-resistant materials or other flood protection improvements.

Mehta criticized the lack of communication around these programs. “It was so hard to find information about the program, the deadlines, and the timing of when it was released,” he added.

“Even if the city did send out a press release, it didn’t reach the people who needed it most. There was no effort to go door-to-door or to distribute flyers in affected neighbourhoods. For a city that’s supposedly focused on stormwater, it was a real failure in communication.”

Mississauga residents have been paying a dedicated stormwater charge since 2016, first approved by the city council in 2015, and added to Region of Peel water bills in 2016.

“The City of Mississauga owns $1.97 billion in stormwater infrastructure that needs to be properly maintained,” former Mayor Bonnie Crombie said at the time. 

“This is why Council approved a stormwater charge which is a new, dedicated source of funding that will be added to the Region of Peel water bill beginning in 2016. We are taking responsibility and investing more money in our stormwater system to keep it in good working order and to avoid costly repairs in the future.”

Mehta recalls his involvement in consultations over a decade ago regarding the stormwater charge and the debate over why businesses were given credit incentives to reduce stormwater runoff, but not residents. 

He believes that offering incentives to residents, even small ones like a discount on a rain barrel, could help improve implementation and boost adoption of stormwater management measures.

“There’s a lack of engagement with residents. If we could get more residents to participate in these programs through incentives, we’d see more effective outcomes. The city is missing the mark by not investing in the small things that make a big difference,” he added.

He does give credit to the city for its recent resilience investments, including the daylighting of Serson Creek, which was buried and piped underground in the 1960s, and the creation of the Jim Tovey Conservation Area in the Lakeview Village development. 

Once buried underground for decades, Serson Creek was reconnected to Lake Ontario in December 2021, marking the revival of one of Mississauga’s lost rivers. Led by Credit Valley Conservation, the Region of Peel, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), and Lakeview Community Partners, the restoration is part of the Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area, transforming the former industrial site into a thriving natural habitat. The revitalized creek now supports fish migration, reduces flood risk through a connected wetland, and will offer new trails and 26 hectares of green space for public enjoyment. It is expected to open this year.

(Credit Valley Conservation)

But he questions whether these efforts are truly innovative or just playing catch-up.

“We’re getting accolades for bringing back a creek that used to exist as a natural wetland,” he added.

“It’s really great because we’re bringing it back, but we’re bringing it back to something that was already removed by us. Are we actually making net improvements? In most cases, I don’t think we’re quite at that level of thinking yet.”

He is concerned that the focus is skewed toward hard infrastructure, concrete walls, pipes, and flood barriers, and soft infrastructure, like green roofs and natural water systems, is often sidelined. 

“Hard infrastructure like the temporary retaining wall along the Etobicoke Creek might be a quick fix, but soft infrastructure is the gift that keeps on giving. Soft infrastructure…have long-term benefits, not just in terms of stormwater management but in improving overall quality of life,” Mehta explained.

“When you add trees or naturalized spaces, it helps reduce heat, builds humidity during drier times, and generally makes a neighbourhood more livable. But we’re still treating it as a secondary measure, a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a primary focus.”

Cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are already leading the way with ambitious stormwater management policies and green infrastructure initiatives, such as sponge parks and green roofs.

In 2009, Toronto became the first city in North America to implement a Green Roof Bylaw, requiring new developments or expansions over 2,000 square metres in gross floor area to dedicate 20 to 60 percent of the available roof space to green roofs.

(City of Toronto)

“Toronto’s green roof initiative is the most ambitious in the world. The city has the largest green roof area per capita, but Mississauga isn’t even thinking about something like that. Instead, we’re still looking for quick fixes in concrete. The city could learn a lot from Toronto,” he added.

“It’s not enough to just build more flood barriers or put in more pipes. Look at what Toronto is doing with the Don River realignment. That’s a project that’s going to have a huge impact on stormwater management. Why can’t Mississauga think that big?”

The renaturalization of the Don River through the creation of Biidaasige Park is a vital step in enhancing Toronto's flood control and climate resilience. Previously confined to the man-made Keating Channel, the river’s flow became inadequate over time due to urban development and the increasing severity of storms caused by climate change. The new, natural river outlet is designed to allow the river to flood safely during heavy rainfall, spreading water over the floodplain and reducing the risk of flash floods in nearby areas, including the redeveloped port lands. The restoration mimics the river's original, meandering path, enabling it to absorb excess water and regulate flow without causing disruption. It also restores vital ecosystems that improve local drainage, reduce the intensity of floods, and mitigate the urban heat island effect.

(Waterfront Toronto)

It's not just big cities with flexible budgets making meaningful strides in environmental sustainability. Increasingly, smaller communities are proving that protecting nature doesn’t always require new construction; sometimes it just means allowing nature to do what it does best.

In January, the Town of Pelham, supported by the Greenbelt Foundation, partnered with the Natural Assets Initiative (NAI) on the Pelham Greenbelt Natural Asset Management Project, which was designed to identify, measure, value, and manage the town’s natural assets, particularly those within Ontario’s Greenbelt, to ensure they continue providing essential services and multiple co-benefits for the community.

Pelham’s natural ecosystems already provide over $585 million annually in stormwater management services. Without them, peak stormwater flows could rise 486 percent during extreme storms, flooding that traditional, “grey” infrastructure could never contain.

When asked if adopting this nature-based approach had benefited the town, Pelham’s Manager of Planning, Shannon Larocque, said “yes” without hesitation.

One of the town’s most significant milestones has been formally incorporating the natural asset management plan into its official asset management plan.

“We formally included our natural asset plan with our asset management plan this year. Now, it’s officially recognized, which was one of the major action items the Greenbelt Foundation recommended,” Larocque shared proudly.

“We’re going to be implementing low-impact design and green infrastructure considerations into our engineering design guidelines. We’re aiming to have that happen before the end of the year.” 

It includes designing streets and buildings that reduce water runoff and improve water management, an essential move as municipalities continue to face more frequent and severe flooding.

The town also recently passed a new official plan that includes stronger natural heritage policies, further cementing the importance of protecting Pelham’s natural assets. 

“There were a lot of people who came out asking for these protections to be weakened, but council held fast, recognizing the long-term benefits for the community. The clear evidence from our natural asset work showed the immense value these features provide to residents, whether it’s enhanced flood mitigation or improved air quality,” she noted.

The town council has since also introduced stronger tree protection policies, delegating authority to the Niagara Region to safeguard additional woodlands from illegal tree removal.

Larocque emphasized the urgency of protecting these woodlands due to ongoing threats from invasive species like gypsy moths, phragmites, and woolly adelgid, which continue to harm the health of the town’s forests and trees. 

“We have a dedicated reserve fund to address their impact…This includes financing invasive species management programs, such as controlling gypsy moth populations and combating the spread of phragmites, both of which have caused significant damage to some of our natural areas,” she explained, noting that the town has partnered closely with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) on projects ranging from restoration efforts to invasive species control. 

“We’ve made a lot of big successful steps so far, but the really big work is yet to come. With the ongoing threat of invasive species and the growing impact of climate change, municipalities need to invest in both natural and built infrastructure to ensure long-term resilience.”

Mehta agrees and says Mississauga officials and residents need to adopt the same mindset if they want to effectively tackle climate resilience.

Mississauga's Kariya Park

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

“Right now, the city is too focused on short-term fixes. After every flood, we’re back at the drawing board trying to figure out what went wrong. We can’t keep putting Band-Aids on the problem. Instead, we should be investing in long-term solutions before the next disaster hits,” he said.

“If we’re serious about being climate-resilient, we need to prioritize long-term, sustainable investments over temporary fixes. We need to integrate natural assets into every conversation, from zoning to transportation, to make sure our city is ready for the future, not just the next flood.”

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