A new study published in the international science journal FACETS shows that draining small agricultural Prairie wetlands is adding significantly to Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, with a cost that researchers say has been largely overlooked.
The project brought together scientists, farmers, Ducks Unlimited Canada, and the National Farmers Union to assess the impact of wetland drainage across the Prairie Pothole Region, a major agricultural zone characterized by millions of shallow, seasonal wetlands. Many of these wetlands continue to be removed to increase farmable acreage.
Dr. Kerri Finlay, Canada Research Chair in Water in a Changing Environment and director of the Institute for Environmental Change and Society at the University of Regina, is one of the lead authors. She says the team assembled existing data to estimate the emissions impact of ongoing wetland loss.
"Our team found that ongoing wetland drainage in the Canadian portion of the Prairie Pothole Region boosts annual agricultural emissions by at least five per cent," says Finlay. She adds that "the biggest driver is carbon dioxide released when previously submerged wetland sediments are exposed to air after drainage."
At Canada's 2024 carbon price, the study calculates that those additional emissions are associated with a financial cost of $171 million annually.
Co-author Dr. Colin Whitfield, associate professor in the University of Saskatchewan's School of Environment and Sustainability, notes that the implications extend beyond carbon alone. "While this loss of carbon from the landscape is large and important in itself, it is important to acknowledge that this is part of a broader suite of ecosystem services with value to humans that are lost through wetland drainage activities," he says.
The team also looked at other changes associated with drainage, such as reduced diesel fuel use when equipment no longer has to navigate around wetlands. These benefits were found to be minimal when compared to the emissions released from exposed carbon stores.
Finlay says the findings highlight a major oversight in current national reporting. "Because these emissions aren't currently included in Canada's official National Inventory Report, this represents a significant blind spot in national climate accounting. These values must be added to the inventory and used to shape future policy decisions on Prairie wetland protection."
The researchers emphasize that the wetlands are playing an outsized role in climate regulation, and their loss carries consequences well beyond individual properties.
Read the full study here: https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2025-0124
