This summit will connect people from a range of sectors from across Ontario – and around the world – to talk about, celebrate, and take action to protect biodiversity. Objectives include:

* Providing a forum to educate, energize, and engage stakeholders;

* Introducing a non-traditional audience to the importance of biodiversity and their role in implementing Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy, 2011;

* Celebrating achievements, reflect on the state of Ontario’s biodiversity, and prioritize actions to 2020 to advance Ontario’s biodiversity conservation targets.

The summit will feature sessions on the topic of ecosystem services, insofar as information and the consideration of ecosystem services help to fulfill the objectives of Ontario’s biodiversity strategy. This strategy includes reducing threats to biodiversity, enhance resilience of biodiversity, and improving knowledge about biodiversity.

The State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2015 will be formally released at the start of the summit.

A “youth summit” will take place in parallel at another venue and join the plenary sessions by a live video feed.