Natural Asset Inventories Standard Now Out for Public Review

Note: The review period for this Standard has ended. It will now enter the voting and editing process with the CSA Group; the final Standard is expected to be produced by mid-2023.

A new draft standard, Methodology for Completing Natural Asset Inventories, CSA W218, is now ready for public review.

Earlier this year, the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative (MNAI) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) signed an agreement with the CSA Group to develop a new National Standard for Canada for natural asset inventories. This standard is now in the public review phase and accepting comments for the next two months.

The standard is available to view and for comment on the CSA Group website:

A natural asset inventory contains information about the location, types, and extent of natural assets and the condition they are in; it is the first step that local governments and others take in the full natural asset management process. 

Establishing national standards for inventories will help make resilient, cost-effective natural assets and natural infrastructure more accessible, and consistent in their management. The current draft developed by the CSA Group connects to broader climate and nature-based solutions, both of which have faced barriers to adoption due to gaps in available knowledge or isolated data. This standard can provide a basis for seeking and accumulating comparable data and project sharing related to natural assets that will help overcome these barriers and further nature-based solutions and natural infrastructure in Canada.

We encourage you to take a look and share your comments on CSA W218. Progress in natural assets is being made, but not at the pace that our communities and the environment require. The Methodology for Completing Natural Asset Inventories is the next great stride in building our capacity to value, assess, and protect natural assets, and make this approach natural asset management mainstream.