Roles and Benefits for Members
There are many ways that members can contribute to and benefit from CCEA’s work, including:
- helping to shape and advance national and regional efforts on protected and conserved areas and associated efforts on biodiversity conservation
- showcasing your work and efforts of your organization on protecting ecological areas and on associated area-based biodiversity conservation efforts
- participating in meetings and workshops, assisting with project work, and serving on standing committees and task teams
- helping others to broaden their conservation credentials through sharing of expertise, personal experiences and technical knowledge
- representing and promoting CCEA and its work in your sphere of conservation practice and at external meetings and functions
- assisting with generating support and resourcing to expand CCEA’s capacity to conduct and apply CCEA’s project work
- strengthening your credentials in conservation science as a practitioner or researcher
- voting at annual general meetings and serving as a director on the CCEA Board
Membership Categories
Individual Membership
Individual members include professional practitioners, researchers, graduate students, retirees, and others who are involved in the practice or study of establishing, protecting and managing protected and conserved areas and associated designations focused on biodiversity conservation. Individual members may belong to other organizations but do not represent that organization’s interest with the CCEA.
Organizational Memberships
Organizational members include representatives of federal, provincial, territorial, Indigenous and municipal governments, Indigenous communities and organizations, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations with a mandate to establish, protect and manage protected and conserved areas and associated designations that substantially contribute to viable networks of protected ecological areas and biodiversity conservation.
Membership Criteria
Applications for CCEA membership are considered on the basis of demonstrated experience in relation to protected and conserved areas. In general, CCEA members come from the following backgrounds:
- managers and field practitioners for protected areas
- experts, including NGO staff, scientists and people with traditional knowledge in relation to the policy and technical fields of CCEA’s interests
- academic specialists in areas relating to protected areas, resource economics, conservation biology, biogeography, wildlife management, marine conservation and other related fields.
- Experts in supporting areas such as accounting, communications, marketing and fundraising with a demonstrated connection to the CCEA’s mission.
Prospective members are encouraged to demonstrate:
- good understanding of biodiversity conservation values, concepts and principles
- expertise and experience in the establishment, protection and management of protected and conserved areas
- willingness to participate in CCEA’s work with other members and directors
- for organizational members, participate with the endorsement of your organization and encourage your organization to consider other in-kind or financial contributions when appropriate.
There is no membership fee. Rather, members are encouraged to participate in CCEA’s activities, and support the Strategy Framework, on a voluntary basis, working with other members and directors.
About CCEA
The Canadian Council on Ecological Areas (CCEA) is an independent national organization established in 1982 to provide a forum for individuals and organizations involved in the establishment, protection and management of a comprehensive nation-wide network of protected ecological areas that represent Canada’s terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. CCEA members include governmental and non-governmental representatives, practitioners and researchers involved in this work. CCEA has been a registered charity since 1994.
CCEA’s work entails the staging of conferences and workshops, conducting research projects, issuing occasional papers and other publications, and communications and collaboration with like-minded organizations to generate and mobilize information and knowledge of relevance to members, associates and the wider community of practice. CCEA is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and facilitates the adoption of global conventions and standards as a basis for effective biodiversity conservation efforts across Canada.
Now in its 40th year, CCEA, working with partners and associates, has contributed widely to efforts to protect and conserve ecological areas in Canada, notably leading work on assessing and reporting on protected and conserved areas, developing concepts of ecological representation including a national framework to represent the ecological diversity in Canada’s ecozones and ecoregions, setting standards for protecting and conserving areas, along with work on marine conservation areas, efforts in northern regions and settled landscapes, climate change adaptation, connectivity science and other topics.
In celebration of its first 40 years of accomplishments with partners and associates, CCEA is now looking to broaden its membership, including both organizational representatives and individual practitioners.