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The Aboriginal Funds for Species at Risk were established in 2004 as an important element of the implementation of the Species at Risk Act (SARA). The protection of species at risk in Canada depends upon a meaningful collaboration with Aboriginal people and organizations in the implementation of programs under the Species at Risk Act. The Act recognizes the role that Aboriginal people play in wildlife conservation and requires that Aboriginal traditional knowledge be taken into account when assessments of which species are at risk are carried out and when protection and recovery measures are developed and implemented. Two funds are part of the Aboriginal Funds for Species at Risk: the Aboriginal Capacity Building Fund (ACBF) and the Aboriginal Critical Habitat Protection Fund (ACHPF).

The ACBF is designed to help Aboriginal organizations and communities across Canada build capacity to enable them to participate actively in the conservation and recovery of species protected under SARA and species at risk designated by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The ACBF enables Aboriginal organizations and communities to acquire, develop, and use knowledge and skills so that they can play an active role in the implementation of the Species at Risk Act. Capacity building includes skill development (education, training, learning), tool development (systems or mechanisms), and information management (data).

The objective of the ACHPF is to protect and recover the critical habitat of species at risk on Aboriginal lands. First priority is given to species protected under SARA; second priority is given to species at risk designated by COSEWIC (Endangered and Threatened species). Under the Species at Risk Act, critical habitat is defined as the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species' critical habitat in a recovery strategy or in an action plan.

The ACHPF is supporting regional and local Aboriginal organizations and communities to protect critical habitat or important habitat anticipated to be designated as critical habitat under SARA. The fund is guided by the content of recovery strategies and actions plans as they are developed, and by the need to protect critical habitat under the Species at Risk Act. The fund can support a number of activities related to the protection and recovery of species at risk and their habitat.