The importance of natural capital to Canada's economy

As Canadians, we are fortunate to have a large and diverse geography and natural environment. Canadians benefit from the environment in terms of personal enjoyment and leisure, spiritual value and community connections, extraction of natural resources, and provision of key ecosystem services such as air purification by forests, pollination of crops by bees and flood control by plains and wetlands. What we often fail to recognize is the inter-relationship between the environment and the economy. The state of the economy and the health of the environment are so tightly linked that almost any change in one has the potential to impact the other, in essence, they are an inseparable system.