UVic and SDG 15: Life on Land
Events promoting conservation and sustainable use of land
UVic's Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability funds and directs a year-round programme of public restoration events on campus, delivered in partnership with the Greater Victoria Green Team, a programme of the national charity Green Teams of Canada. Ten such activities ran in the 2024–25 cycle. They are free, open to anyone, and each is documented publicly with participant numbers, species removed, and area restored. The first activity of 2024 took place at the Sedgewick Building, where volunteers cleared English ivy from the forest the building was designed around and where the Green Team launched new educational plant identification signs. In 2025, volunteers returned repeatedly to Cunningham Woods, a one-acre Douglas-fir stand inside Ring Road, to remove English ivy, English holly and Himalayan blackberry, and the Victoria News reported on the late-winter series of pulls at the Cedar Hill Cross Road entrance to campus. Monthly volunteer activities also run in Mystic Vale.
Student-led events add to this. The UVic Ecological Restoration Club runs work parties, seed collections and planting days at the campus Garry oak meadow and at its native plant plots in the Campus Community Garden, and it maintains a shared tool repository so that community members without equipment can take part. School groups are deliberately included: past and current Green Team activities on campus have hosted students from Claremont Secondary, Mount Douglas Secondary and Oak and Orca Bioregional School alongside UVic students, staff and neighbours.
Sustainably farmed food on campus
UVic's food purchasing is governed by the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 2030 (CSAP 2030), published in November 2022 and subject to formal review every three years. Strategy 9.2 commits the university to local purchasing and sustainable operational practices, and sets measurable targets: halve food-related greenhouse gas emissions from the 2019 baseline by 2030, make plant-based food the default on 60 per cent of campus menus, raise local suppliers to 30 per cent of the supply chain through partnerships including Feed BC and Indigenous-led organisations, and develop a climate and Fair Trade food labelling programme. Progress is measured using AASHE STARS methodology, which tracks expenditure on plant-based, ethically and sustainably produced food, and sets a threshold of at least 10 per cent of spend directed to social impact suppliers.
Results are published. As of the provincial government's Feed BC reporting for 2022/23, 51 per cent of University Food Services' food expenditure came from British Columbia, ahead of the CSAP 2030 target. Plant-based food expenditure rose from 11.5 per cent in 2020 to 29.2 per cent in 2023, menu items are tiered by carbon intensity, and lamb has been removed from menus entirely. Fresh produce is supplied by Islands West, a local business that minimises packaging and donates surplus to local farms, and the Cove Dining Facility incorporates traditional Indigenous foods with training from local Indigenous chefs, developed with the Office of the Vice-President Indigenous. Students, staff and community members also grow food on campus through the Campus Community Garden.
Maintaining and extending ecosystem biodiversity
UVic protects five endangered ecosystems on its campus and works directly to restore them. The protected natural areas include Mystic Vale and Hobbs Creek (11.6 acres, with trees estimated at 300 to 500 years old), South Woods, Cunningham Woods, the Bowker Creek headwaters, and the Garry oak and camas meadow northwest of Finnerty Gardens. The Garry oak restoration project, led by students with support from the Restoration of Natural Systems programme, has cleared invasive plants from more than 17,500 square metres and introduced over 30 native species, including camas and woolly sunflower, many raised in the Ecological Restoration Club's own native plant nursery. Long-term monitoring is crowd-sourced through a public iNaturalist project, and the five-year restoration plan is published in full.
Since 2024 this work has been anchored by two dedicated staff roles. Loreisa Lepine, UVic's inaugural Indigenous Land Steward, works with Eco-Cultural Steward Drew Elves across four campus restoration sites: A Place of Medicine in the David Turpin courtyard, the marsh in front of First Peoples House, the forest behind the Indigenous Law Centre, and the Reciprocity Meadow. At A Place of Medicine, the number of Indigenous food and medicine plant species has been tripled, from 42 identified at the outset to 160. Lepine reports the return of Steller's jays, dragonflies, bees and butterflies as plant diversity has recovered. The university also maintains a published inventory of the species and ecological communities of the campus and a sensitive ecosystem inventory with individual management plans for priority sites.
Education and outreach on the sustainable use of land
UVic has trained ecological restoration practitioners since 1996, when the Restoration of Natural Systems (RNS) programme became the first of its kind in British Columbia. Delivered jointly by the School of Environmental Studies and the Division of Continuing Studies, RNS offers a diploma, a certificate and a post-baccalaureate Ecological Restoration Professional Specialization Certificate for working professionals. The programmes are certified by CIFAL Victoria, so graduates receive a certificate of completion co-signed by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. Diploma students complete a capstone restoration project, usually delivered with a community group, government department or industry partner, and these projects are published open access in the Ecorestoration: RNS Technical Series. The Spring 2025 issue includes an account of native species reintroduction in a degraded Garry oak meadow at Uplands Park in Oak Bay, carried out through 2024 with the municipality.
For local and national communities more broadly, Continuing Studies runs an open-enrolment sustainability course collection with no prerequisites, spanning workshops, walking tours and short courses. Offerings in 2024 and 2025 included Gardening with Native Plants, Garden Hospitality: Welcoming the Pollinators, Gardening with Wildlife, Ecological Gardening, Ecosystems of British Columbia, Canada and the World, and Biodiversity and Conservation Biology. Free information sessions run each term for anyone considering these programmes. Free learning also happens on the ground: every Green Team restoration event on campus includes plant identification teaching and on-site interpretation, and the RNS technical series is available to read at no cost anywhere in the world.
Education on the sustainable management of land for agriculture runs through several routes. Urban Restoration and Sustainable Agricultural Systems examines agriculture from an agro-ecological perspective and covers permaculture, composting and organic gardening, with five in-person days on campus in its Fall 2025 offering. Traditional Systems of Land and Resource Management and a course on non-timber forest management address Indigenous governance and sustainable harvest. Community courses on seed saving, propagating vegetables from seed, backyard beekeeping and mason bee management are open to anyone. On campus, the Campus Community Garden provides hands-on growing space, and ES 200, an introduction to environmental studies built around food security, enrols more than 550 students a year.
On tourism, Continuing Studies delivers a Micro-certificate in Tourism Sustainability, an online programme designed for people working in or entering the tourism sector, focused on climate adaptation and environmental management in destinations. The Peter B. Gustavson School of Business separately delivers Biosphere Sustainable certification to tourism destinations and businesses, a programme built around commitments to the natural and cultural heritage of the communities in which those businesses operate, supported by free informational webinars.
Land-based learning extends to schools and to Indigenous communities. UVic's Indigenous Land Steward hosts classes throughout the academic year for university students and for pupils from the Greater Victoria School District, teaching native plant knowledge and restoration practice in the campus gardens. CSAP 2030 commits the university to developing further opportunities for land-based learning, including qʷɫaʔəl | ḰȽO¸EL (kwetlal or camas) harvesting, pit cooks and native plant gardens.
Policies, plans and commitments on land use
The university's principal instrument is CSAP 2030, published in November 2022 and reviewed formally every three years in line with the AASHE STARS cycle. Strategy 10.5 commits UVic to create and maintain a campus landscape and natural areas that support Indigenous knowledges and management principles and enhance resilience, biodiversity and ecosystems. Its actions are specific: reduce the quantity and monitor the quality of campus stormwater entering local drainage and stream networks; minimise the impacts of invasive species through ongoing management and removal, prioritising the natural areas identified in the Campus Plan and supporting volunteer-led initiatives; build greater understanding and inventory of threatened and endangered flora and fauna on campus; and support improved public access, pedestrian management, restoration and nature-based learning in Mystic Vale. Strategy 1.2 further commits the university to developing a campus natural areas management plan with input and guidance from local Knowledge Holders and First Nations.
These commitments sit alongside longer-standing land-use policy. The 2016 Campus Plan, approved by the Board of Governors, sets policy direction for campus landscapes and natural areas and designates the protected natural areas listed above. The Campus Greenway Landscape Plan and Design Guidelines identify restoration nodes where ecologically significant areas are to be enhanced as the campus develops. UVic's Sustainability Policy, first approved in 2009, provides the governing framework.
On species at risk, UVic states that its conservation efforts align with IUCN guidance and national conservation lists, and that staff actively monitor and protect listed species in areas affected by university operations. The evidence base is the published campus inventory of species and ecological communities, the sensitive ecosystem inventory with its site-specific management plans, and the CSAP 2030 commitment to build a fuller inventory of threatened and endangered flora and fauna. Day-to-day responsibility for at-risk plant communities rests substantially with the Indigenous Land Steward and Eco-Cultural Steward, whose stated focus is the care of the five endangered ecosystems on campus and the re-establishment of threatened native plant species.
Biodiversity is a formal consideration in planning and development. Tree retention is evaluated in each capital project; where removal is unavoidable, replacement meets the requirements of the District of Oak Bay and District of Saanich tree protection bylaws, new landscaping uses Indigenous and drought-tolerant plantings, and harvested timber is re-used in university projects or gifted to Indigenous communities. The campus community is notified in advance of tree removals. All new buildings and major renovations meet LEED v4 Gold or an equivalent standard, and UVic has built to LEED Gold since 2007.
On alien species, UVic maintains an Invasive Species Management Strategy that identifies priority areas and priority species for removal across Mystic Vale, South Woods, Cunningham Woods, Haro Woods, Finnerty Ravine and the Bowker Creek area, and an Integrated Pest Management Plan used to control invasive species without reliance on chemical intervention. Removal is carried out year-round by grounds staff and by the volunteer programme described in Section 1, and native vegetation is used in replanting.
Collaborating with the local community on shared land ecosystems
UVic is a partner in the Bowker Creek Initiative and steward of the creek's headwaters, which form the largest open space in a heavily urbanised watershed shared with the Capital Regional District and the municipalities of Saanich, Oak Bay and Victoria. The initiative works to a 100-year blueprint, and UVic's contribution includes reducing impervious surfaces, managing runoff under its Integrated Stormwater Management Plan, and maintaining the headwaters as wildlife habitat and a public education site.
The university's longest-running restoration partnership is with the Greater Victoria Green Team, which has worked on campus for close to a decade with UVic's financial support and direction, drawing in neighbours, school groups and first-time volunteers alongside students and staff. Other community organisations active on campus include the Environmental Restoration Volunteer Network, the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team and Friends of Finnerty Gardens. RNS capstone projects push the collaboration outward: students plan and deliver restoration work with municipalities, stewardship groups and industry partners across the region and beyond, as with the 2024 native species reintroduction at Uplands Park in Oak Bay.
Collaboration with local First Nations is central rather than incidental. The Campus as Living Lands project, co-led by Professor Jeff Corntassel of Indigenous Studies, is advised by Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ Knowledge Holders and by Indigenous faculty and students, and it gave rise to the Indigenous Land Steward role. CSAP 2030 commits UVic to creating new partnership agreements with these Nations, to continuing restoration work under the guidance of Knowledge Holders, and to restoring habitats so that community members can gather kwetlal and other traditional foods on campus.
Waste management and disposal
UVic's water discharge standards are set by the Capital Regional District, the District of Saanich and the District of Oak Bay. The CRD Sewer Use Bylaw No. 5 governs non-domestic discharge, and its industry-specific Codes of Practice apply to campus food service operations, McKinnon Pool, the Ian Stewart Complex ice rink and all laboratories. The Outdoor Aquatic Facility holds a CRD permit to discharge to the sanitary sewer. Saanich's Sanitary Sewer Bylaw and Watercourse and Drainage Regulation and Oak Bay's Public Sewer Bylaw cover stormwater and surface flows. Occupational Health, Safety and Environment administers source control across campus, maintains an approved list of chemicals that may go to sink disposal, and secures CRD permits for controlled waste and for high-volume or high-load wastewater discharges. Green roofs, rain gardens and permeable paving reduce runoff volume, and CSAP 2030 commits the university to monitoring stormwater quality as well as quantity.
On plastics, CSAP 2030 Strategy 10.6 commits UVic to phasing out single-use packaging, ending the sale of bottled water, ensuring all to-go items are compostable, applying a surcharge to single-use containers and cups, and running reusable container programmes. Campus practice has met and gone beyond the BC Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation since it came into force in December 2023. UVic does not sell or distribute plastic shopping bags; all food service utensils are uncoated wood or bamboo; straws are paper; no polystyrene foam is used in food or beverage packaging; oxo-biodegradable plastics were phased out in July 2024; and PVC film wrap will be eliminated by July 2028. Accessories such as lids, sleeves and napkins are available only on request at self-serve stations. Reuse is supported by the Eco-Box container exchange at the Cove and Mystic Market, a reusable beverage cup pilot at Port and Boardwalk cafés, a discount for customers bringing their own mug, and 89 water refill locations across campus.
Hazardous materials are handled under the OHSE hazardous waste management programme, which covers teaching and research laboratories, facilities operations and the campus medical centre. The programme sets requirements for segregation, compatible containers, labelling and pick-up; specifies treatment protocols for liquid biological waste; and defines handling procedures for reactive and special-handling chemicals such as piranha solution, perchloric acid, aqua regia and hydrofluoric acid. Wastes are removed weekly by a licensed third-party contractor. A chemical inventory system reduces duplicate purchasing and encourages sharing between labs, and a mercury thermometer exchange removed more than 325 mercury instruments from the university. Laboratory glass is decontaminated and recycled through a dedicated stream. Training in WHMIS and in the Transportation of Dangerous Goods regulations is mandatory for staff and faculty working with hazardous materials, and OHSE manages the university's federal reporting obligations for PCBs, mercury-containing products and other regulated toxic substances.
The wider waste system supports this. Roughly 80 per cent of daily waste at the Gordon Head campus is diverted from landfill through recycling and composting. More than 300 multi-stream stations operate inside campus buildings and all outdoor bins have been replaced with Sort-It-Out stations. Specialty streams handle soft plastics, polystyrene, batteries, pens and e-waste. Construction waste is tracked under LEED and routinely exceeds 90 per cent diversion. Waste Reduction Services calculates diversion rates monthly and conducts periodic waste audits to inform changes in practice.