Canadian National Wetlands Inventory

The Canadian National Wetlands Inventory (CNWI) is a comprehensive, publicly available national geodatabase developed by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), in collaboration with federal, provincial, and territorial governments, academia, Indigenous groups, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). It consists of the best available wetland mapping data, along with its metadata, published in a standardized manner.

The CNWI is continuously updated through the compilation of existing data and the acquisition of new high-resolution datasets to address coverage gaps, with an emphasis on peatlands and coastal wetlands, which are key habitats for greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration. ECCC plans to use the CNWI to train and validate machine-learning algorithms to delineate and classify wetlands at a national scale and to measure trends over time. This will directly support Canada’s Nature-Based Climate Solutions by informing biodiversity conservation, guiding climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, and supporting GHG emissions reporting.

The CNWI was initially released in February 2024 with 13 source datasets. In June 2025, the Inventory was updated to include 14 additional datasets. Collectively, these 27 source datasets comprise approximately 12.1 million wetland polygon features, covering a total area of roughly 640,000 square kilometers across ten provinces and territories (BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, PE, ON, QC, SK, YT). These source datasets were cross-walked into a standardized CNWI classification schema, which is based on two foundational documents: the Canadian Wetland Classification System (National Wetlands Working Group, 1997) and the Canadian Wetland Inventory Data Model (2016).

The CNWI Schema contains five major wetland classes (Bog, Fen, Swamp, Marsh, and Shallow/Open Water) and eight subclasses (Rich Fen, Poor Fen, Organic Swamp, Mineral Swamp, Organic Marsh, Mineral Marsh, Shallow Water, and Open Water). Non-conforming wetlands can be categorized into three groups: Peatland, Mixed, and Unclassified.

For more information on the CNWI and the related database, please refer to the CNWI User Manual and other supporting documents that accompany this publication. The User Manual provides detailed information on how data are collected, managed, and distributed to meet CNWI data standards.

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated October 20, 2025, 02:08 (UTC)
Created October 20, 2025, 02:08 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Boundaries, Environment, Imagery Base Maps Earth Cover, Inland Waters, Location
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Canadian National Wetlands Inventory
Description
A description of the dataset.

The Canadian National Wetlands Inventory (CNWI) is a comprehensive, publicly available national geodatabase developed by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), in collaboration with federal, provincial, and territorial governments, academia, Indigenous groups, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). It consists of the best available wetland mapping data, along with its metadata, published in a standardized manner.

The CNWI is continuously updated through the compilation of existing data and the acquisition of new high-resolution datasets to address coverage gaps, with an emphasis on peatlands and coastal wetlands, which are key habitats for greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration. ECCC plans to use the CNWI to train and validate machine-learning algorithms to delineate and classify wetlands at a national scale and to measure trends over time. This will directly support Canada’s Nature-Based Climate Solutions by informing biodiversity conservation, guiding climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, and supporting GHG emissions reporting.

The CNWI was initially released in February 2024 with 13 source datasets. In June 2025, the Inventory was updated to include 14 additional datasets. Collectively, these 27 source datasets comprise approximately 12.1 million wetland polygon features, covering a total area of roughly 640,000 square kilometers across ten provinces and territories (BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, PE, ON, QC, SK, YT). These source datasets were cross-walked into a standardized CNWI classification schema, which is based on two foundational documents: the Canadian Wetland Classification System (National Wetlands Working Group, 1997) and the Canadian Wetland Inventory Data Model (2016).

The CNWI Schema contains five major wetland classes (Bog, Fen, Swamp, Marsh, and Shallow/Open Water) and eight subclasses (Rich Fen, Poor Fen, Organic Swamp, Mineral Swamp, Organic Marsh, Mineral Marsh, Shallow Water, and Open Water). Non-conforming wetlands can be categorized into three groups: Peatland, Mixed, and Unclassified.

For more information on the CNWI and the related database, please refer to the CNWI User Manual and other supporting documents that accompany this publication. The User Manual provides detailed information on how data are collected, managed, and distributed to meet CNWI data standards.
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2025-05-26
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
License
License used to access the dataset.
Open Government Licence - Canada
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/d5af4ac5-ebdb-4645-bb0a-8ec5cac5e29f
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
Environment and Climate Change Canada | Environnement et Changement climatique Canada
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Canadian Wildlife Service, [email protected]
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
[email protected]
Author
Author of the dataset.
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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