February 2023 – Municipal Natural Assets Initiative

This legal primer provides an overview of several aspects of the law relating to natural asset management by local governments. It aims to accomplish four objectives:

1) Identify where the legal authority for local governments to undertake natural asset management lies and any related limitations about which local governments (and their enabling provinces and territories) should be aware.

2) Identify legal and policy tools available to local governments for implementing natural asset management and protection, noting that the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative (“MNAI”) and partners have already undertaken significant work in this area.

3) Describe legal risks facing local governments that do not undertake natural asset management and protection, as well as those local governments that do.

4) Bring attention to legal developments related to natural asset management, including case law (both recently decided and ongoing) and other legal developments, that may indicate how the landscape of local governance is changing.

Go to resource: Legal Primer: Natural Asset Management by Local Governments in Canada

Watch a recorded webinar about this resource here!