HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Part 1 – Preliminary Provisions

Definitions

1  In this Act,

"wetland" has the same meaning as in the Water Sustainability Act;

"wetland function" means the natural process and derivation of benefits and values associated with wetland ecosystems, including economic production, fish and wildlife habitat, organic carbon storage, water supply and purification, and soil and water conservation, as well as tourism, heritage, recreational, educational, scientific, and aesthetic opportunities;

"Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy" means the Minister responsible for the effective protection, management and conservation of B.C.'s water, land, air and living resources.

Purpose

2  (1) The purpose of this Act is to ensure the conservation of British Columbia's wetland functions to sustain their socio-economic and habitat value now and into the future.

(2) This Act establishes a government policy of ensuring no net loss of British Columbia's wetland functions and calls on government to develop a partnership framework utilizing the cross-jurisdictional expertise of different levels of government and non-governmental organizations.

Part 2 – General

3  All government ministries must ensure no net loss of wetland functions on all provincial lands and waters:

(a) impacted on by the implementation of provincial programs or the building of provincial infrastructure projects, and

(b) where wetlands are impacted on by tenures awarded by the province.

4  To meet the requirements of section 3 (a) and (b), all government ministries are responsible for conserving, enhancing, restoring or creating the wetland functions lost in full or in part due to direct human impacts on the land or water.

5  (1) The Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy must conduct a review to determine if it is in the public interest to create a task force to coordinate compliance with sections 3 and 4 that would:

(a) align efforts across municipal, provincial and federal jurisdictions;

(b) oversee cross-ministry coordination to monitor the implementation of a no net loss of wetland function policy in all relevant legislation and regulations on a province-wide basis; and

(c) partner with Ducks Unlimited Canada and other non-governmental organizations to maximize the advantages to be gained from combining the expertise and resources required to comply with sections 3 and 4.

(2) Within 12 months of the date of Royal Assent of this Act, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy must make a statement in the Legislative Assembly indicating whether it is the Government's intention to develop a task force encompassing the criteria noted in subsection (1).