Scoping Agricultural Ecosystem Services within Metro Vancouver

(2022)

Metro Vancouver contracted Upland Agricultural Consulting to undertake this study with the following two objectives:

• To understand the benefits provided by ecosystem services within agricultural areas to resiliency, food production and the livability of the wider region, and,
• To identify and recommend policy, regulatory or financial actions and mechanisms that can be taken to expand the long-term viability of supporting ecosystem services on agricultural land.

Farmland within the ALR makes up approximately 20% of the land base within Metro Vancouver Regional District. The potential of these agricultural lands to support ecosystem services has been recognized in the Regional Food System Strategy, Ecological Health Framework, the Climate 2050 Roadmap for Agriculture, and Metro 2050, among many other policy documents.