Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, was Reverse the Red Day and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), in partnership with the Toronto Zoo, joined the international celebration of efforts to address biodiversity loss and share contributions to conserving Canadian species.

This year, the NWMO and the Toronto Zoo made an official Reverse the Red Species Pledge for the critically endangered Vancouver Island marmot.

“Protecting the environment is an important part of our work at the NWMO,” said Allan Webster, Vice-President of Regulatory Approvals at the NWMO. “The Vancouver Island marmot pledge on Reverse the Red Day, alongside our partnership with the Toronto Zoo, supports meaningful environmental stewardship and conservation action.”

Building on our collaboration launched in 2020 and our groundbreaking five-year partnership announced last year, the NWMO and the Toronto Zoo are proud to continue working with Reverse the Red. Our past Species Pledges for Canadian wildlife include Ontario bats and Blanding’s turtles.

The “red” in “Reverse the Red” refers to the Red List of Threatened Species, a global publication by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which monitors the conservation status of wildlife species.

While many conservation stories focus on decline, Reverse the Red focuses on positive action, inspiring a diverse coalition of partners to collaborate, scale up aspirations and impact and engage people from all walks of life to improve the status of imperiled species globally.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, scientifically-based source of information on the global conservation status of species and a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity.

Working with the Marmot Recovery Foundation and the Wilder Institute, the Toronto Zoo has helped Vancouver Island marmot populations grow from fewer than 30 individuals in 2003 to approximately 427 in 2025.

Thirty-seven active marmot colonies now inhabit numerous mountains across Vancouver Island. The overall program goal is getting the wild population to a point where the most intensive actions — such as supplemental feeding and conservation breeding — are not needed.

However, the population is not yet at the point where recovery actions can be stopped without the species backsliding. Our pledge signifies an ongoing commitment to the recovery of the Vancouver Island marmot. Many great strides in their conservation have been made, but the work is not yet over.

“The Toronto Zoo is proud to be a Guardian of Wild, helping partners from around the world with species recovery efforts,” said Dolf DeJong, CEO of the Toronto Zoo. “From reintroducing species through breeding programs to educating our 1.3 million guests per year about conservation efforts, we’re envisioning and working towards a world where people, wildlife and wild spaces thrive.”

Through our partnership with the Toronto Zoo, the NWMO is committed to taking action and supporting the ongoing Reverse the Red global movement to ensure the survival of wild species and ecosystems.