Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Protected area / relocation · Canada · 1992–2019

Newfoundland pays residents to leave Little Bay Islands, a dwindling fishing village

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

Newfoundland and Labrador's relocation programme offered C$250,000 to C$270,000 per household to leave outport villages after the 1992 cod moratorium. Nature's stake: the cod stocks behind the moratorium and the coastal land left empty.

What?
Newfoundland and Labrador's relocation programme paid households to leave Little Bay Islands, a fishing village down to 38 people by 2017. The Globe and Mail
Where?
Little Bay Islands, Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
When?
The cod moratorium began in July 1992. The Globe and Mail report is dated 15 September 2017. The Globe and Mail
Who?
Gained
  • Government of Newfoundland and Labrador — Its own cost-benefit calculation estimated a saving of about C$3.8 million over 20 years from relocating the village. The Globe and Mail
Lost
  • Village residents — Under the 2021 rules, services such as electricity are cut after relocation, and people who are not permanent residents receive no payment.
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The province's own cost-benefit calculation put the saving at about C$3.8 million over 20 years (Globe and Mail). The Globe and Mail
How?
A village vote with a 90% threshold, then per-household payments of C$250,000 to C$270,000. The province ran the programme; the sources do not show a separate budget line for it. The Globe and Mail
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Globe and Mail reported in September 2017 that Little Bay Islands, a Notre Dame Bay village that once had about 600 people, 11 shops, three churches, a school and a doctor, had 38 people left that year, most of them elderly.

The decline began with the 1992 cod moratorium. The fish plant closed in 2011 and the school in 2018 (Globe and Mail).

Under the provincial scheme a village vote needed 90% approval, and households were offered C$250,000 to C$270,000 each to relocate (Globe and Mail).

The province estimated that relocating the village would save about C$3.8 million over 20 years (Globe and Mail).

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the village closed at the end of 2019, and a 2015 vote on relocation fell just below the 90% threshold (89.47%) before the village later closed.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: the commercial cod fishery reopened on 26 June 2024, on a model that placed the stock outside the critical area.
    • None on record Not in sources reviewed: whether future costs such as ferry, electricity and health services were discounted to present value in the savings calculation.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    1. Newfoundland outports relocation
      The Globe and Mail · 2017-09-15

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Similar cases
    Protected area / relocation · Canada · 2020–2026
    British Columbia old-growth deferrals and mill closures
    Same type: Protected area / relocationSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Killings and repression of defenders · Protected area / relocation · Canada · 2012–2024
    Resolute Forest Products v Greenpeace
    Same type: Protected area / relocationSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Protected area / relocation · Canada · 1993–2023
    Clayoquot Sound protection (Canada)
    Same type: Protected area / relocationSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Protected area / relocation · Canada · 2020–2026
    Québec caribou emergency order and the 17 percent protection target
    Same type: Protected area / relocationSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Protected area / relocation · Global · 2016–2026
    Half-Earth and 30x30 advocacy funding (Wyss Campaign for Nature)
    Same type: Protected area / relocationSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Protected area / relocation · Canada · 2016
    Great Bear Rainforest agreement (Canada)
    Same type: Protected area / relocationSame countryHarm to nature not measured