About
About the Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Fund (NEBF)
The Niagara Escarpment has been here forever. Help keep it forever.
The Niagara Escarpment represents Ontario’s natural and diverse landscape. It hosts rich, lush and diverse ecosystems that support the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.
With southern Ontario’s growing population and increasing urban development, it is important that these precious ecosystems are preserved for future generations to enjoy.
The NEBF was created to do just that.
NEBF is a forward-thinking non-government organization that aspires to conserve the diversity of plants, animals and micro-organisms that make up Niagara’s living biosphere. This is achieved through facilitating and sharing scientific data and analysis supported through research about conservation and preservation of genetic resources, species, ecosystems and landscapes.
What is Biodiversity?
It’s the variety of life on earth and the complex essential relationships between all parts of the natural world: from the thousands of varieties of plants and food crops on the land, to countless species of animals, insects and aquatic life, to the microbes in our soils.
Why is Biodiversity so Important?
Because it’s the earth’s life-support system – and our world’s food supply depends on it.
It’s also nature’s brilliant insurance policy against disaster. Variety spreads risk. It’s that simple. If something fails, there’s a back-up plan. And what a back-up plan we have in biodiversity!
Biodiversity is nature’s safety net, there to catch us if we protect it.
Did you know that about 70 percent of all new drugs introduced in the past 25 years have been derived from natural products? Despite increasingly sophisticated techniques to design medications in the lab, Mother Nature is still the best drug designer.
The NEBF is leading several exciting projects that celebrate and support the continued biodiversity of the Niagara Escarpment. To view our current projects, please click here.
Mission Statement: The central purpose and role of Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Fund is to fulfill the following four primary functions:
1. Conservation: To preserve genetic resources, species, ecosystems and landscapes.
2. Development: To foster sustainable human development.
3. Support: To support demonstration projects, environmental education and training and scientific research and monitor conservation and sustainable development for the Niagara Escarpment, thereby enabling decision makers and their communities to make optimal, science-based decisions for conservation, sustainability and environmental and community resilience.
4. Education: To educate and engage the public about the importance of protecting the Niagara Escarpment.
Our Team
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Chair – Moreen Miller, Ontario Stone, Sand & Gravel Association |
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Treasurer – Tom Boyle, Town of the Northern Bruce Peninsula |
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Cecil Louis, Greenbelt Council and Niagara Escarpment Commission |
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Beth Kummling, Bruce Trail Conservancy |
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John Riley, Nature Conservancy of Canada |
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Nicola Ross, Alternatives Journal |
Our Staff
Richard Murzin, Executive Director
Teri Trent, Communications Director