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36-570: The greater part of the peninsula is incorporated as the Regional Municipality of Niagara . Cities in the region include St. Catharines , Niagara Falls , Thorold , Port Colborne and Welland . Towns include Niagara-on-the-Lake , Lincoln , Pelham , Grimsby and Fort Erie , as well as the townships Wainfleet and West Lincoln . The remainder of the peninsula encompasses parts of the City of Hamilton and Haldimand County . The area

72-855: A land area of 1,852.82 km (715.38 sq mi), it had a population density of 258.0/km (668.1/sq mi) in 2021. Religious profile (2021): The area has a higher concentration of human trafficking compared to other regions in Canada, with 3% of recorded incidents taking place within it. The Niagara Region's proximity to the border and large amounts of hotels are considered to be contributing factors to this issue. Niagara Region contains three airports used primarily for general aviation : Aside from scheduled commuter flights between Niagara District Airport and Toronto City with FlyGTA , for commercial flights Niagara residents use Toronto Pearson International Airport , Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , or John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in

108-454: A major role in attracting visitors seeking a unique cultural experience. Most of the local wineries offer full tours of their facilities with a few offering onsite dining featuring unique Canadian cuisine paired with their own VQA vintages. It is common for many of these wineries' world-class chefs to use fresh ingredients that are grown or acquired from local farms in season. Some wineries also feature live music and theatrical performances in

144-531: A platform for cooperation in research and development. As of July 2024 , 759 sites across 136 countries, including 22 transboundary sites, have been included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves . The reserves cover more than 5% of the world’s surface and are home to over 260 million people. Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Its biosphere reserves are nominated by national governments and remain under

180-544: Is bounded on the north by Lake Ontario and on the south by Lake Erie . Unique natural landscapes make the Niagara Region an important centre for agriculture and tourism in Canada. The most important agricultural enterprise in Niagara is viticulture , or winemaking. The Niagara Wine Route , which connects visitors to dozens of wineries, is a growing tourism draw while the internationally renowned Niagara Falls

216-717: Is defined by its main governing body, the International Coordinating Council. The MAB Council consists of 34 member states elected by UNESCO's General Conference. The council elects a chair and five vice-chairs from each of UNESCO's geopolitical regions, one of which functions as a rapporteur. These constitute the MAB Bureau. The MAB Secretariat is based at UNESCO's Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris. It works with field offices at national and regional levels. MAB

252-470: Is funded by UNESCO and mobilizes funds in trust granted by Member States, bilateral and multilateral sources, and extra-budgetary funds provided by countries, the private sector and private institutions. The first World Congress of Biosphere Reserves was held in Minsk, Belarus in 1983; the congress created an 'Action Plan for Biosphere Reserves' which was adopted the following year. The second World Congress

288-447: Is lower. The three major cities, St. Catharines , Niagara Falls and Welland are mostly urban with most needed services available locally. The remainder of the peninsula, especially to the far west and south, is either partially urban or almost entirely rural. Centres of higher education are Brock University and Niagara College , both offering undergraduate and post-graduate studies in many disciplines. The major roadway bisecting

324-853: Is one of Canada's major tourist attractions. Along with Shaw Festival , held annually in Niagara-on-the-Lake , and the Welland Canal , the Regional Municipality of Niagara receives up to 12 million visitors each year. Niagara Region is situated on treaty land. This land has a rich history of First Nations such as the Neutral , the Haudenosaunee , and the Anishinaabe , including the Mississaugas of

360-449: Is the famous Shaw Festival Theater (named for playwright George Bernard Shaw ) located in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake . A resident repertory company of actors uses three theatres during a six-month season. Niagara-on-the-Lake is also the location of Fort George , a British-built and -occupied fort during the War of 1812 . It was rebuilt for the public during the 1960s and is open during

396-615: The American War of Independence , the region was only sporadically inhabited, as the Iroquois did not establish permanent settlements in the area. The Niagara Peninsula then became one of the first areas settled in Upper Canada by British Loyalists in the late 18th century. The capital of the new colony was established with the founding of Niagara-on-the-Lake , then called Newark. Many English and Irish immigrants settled in

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432-691: The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area . VIA Rail serves Grimsby, St. Catharines and Niagara Falls stations as part of the Maple Leaf intercity train between Toronto and New York City, jointly operated with Amtrak . Many private bus operators operate intercity services to Niagara Region on routes connecting to cities such as Toronto, Buffalo and New York. As of 2023, private bus operators in Niagara Region include Flixbus , Megabus , Equinox, Greyhound , and Trailways . 400-series expressways: Other highways: Biosphere Reserve Man and

468-535: The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area ; as well as crossing the border to use Buffalo Niagara International Airport or Niagara Falls International Airport in Upstate New York . Public transit within Niagara Region is provided by Niagara Region Transit , including scheduled local bus service within Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Thorold and Welland, on-demand transit service in other portions of

504-511: The IUCN classification system . The IUCN distinguishes between the biosphere core area, buffer zones, transition zones, and each individual biosphere reserve. Biosphere core zones were in IUCN category I; either Ia ( strict nature reserve ) or Ib ( wilderness area ). Biosphere buffer zones would fall into categories IV, V or VI, and transition zones would be categorized as either V or VI, if possible. In

540-780: The Niagara Region or Region of Niagara , is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario , Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold . It is the southern end of the Golden Horseshoe , the largest megalopolis in Canada. The region occupies most of the Niagara Peninsula . Its eastern boundary is the Niagara River , which is also the border with the US state of New York . It

576-495: The vintner . There is an official [1] Wine Routes Guide for those that wish to self-drive while transportation companies offering wine tours operate out of major hotel and bed and breakfast establishments in Niagara Falls , Niagara-on-the-Lake and Toronto . (Driving from downtown Toronto to the Niagara wine region is about two hours.) Another major attraction for the well travelled looking for cultural activities

612-458: The 2020s, the zones are categorized as follows: core (category I-IV), buffer (category V-VI), transition (uncategorized). Participating countries establish MAB National Committees that define and implement each country's activities. MAB currently operates through 158 national committees established among the 195 member states and nine associate member states of UNESCO. The agenda of the MAB programme

648-604: The Biosphere Programme ( MAB ) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO , that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages with the international development agenda, especially the Sustainable Development Goals and the Post 2015 Development Agenda . The MAB programme provides

684-511: The Credit First Nation . There are many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people from across Turtle Island that continue to live and work in Niagara today. As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , the Regional Municipality of Niagara had a population of 477,941 living in 195,914 of its 207,926 total private dwellings, a change of 6.7% from its 2016 population of 447,888 . With

720-529: The Niagara Peninsula has both the highest density and growth rate of seniors for any region within Ontario. The highest percentage of seniors to the total population is located within the city of Port Colborne . During the early 1990s a major telecommunications highway between metropolitan Toronto and the U.S. was upgraded to become one of North America's fastest fiber backbones. It passes through

756-640: The Region, and regional bus service between communities in the region. WEGO is an additional local bus network within Niagara Falls, targeted at visitors rather than residents. The WEGO Green Line is operated by the Niagara Parks Commission and requires separate WEGO tickets, while the remainder of WEGO routes are operated by Niagara Region Transit and accept both Niagara Region Transit and WEGO tickets. GO Transit provides regional train and bus services from Niagara Falls and St. Catharines to

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792-753: The Regional government, began operation in late 2006 but is restricted to those requiring transport to medical appointments throughout the region and have no other means of transportation. (Other restrictions apply.) The region hopes to have a fully integrated region-level transit system by the end of the decade. Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Grimsby are all connected to the CN railway line. Via Rail offers limited daily commuter and weekend service between these three peninsula municipalities and Toronto and many points between. Via Rail and Amtrak also offer daily southbound service from Toronto to New York City with stops at

828-518: The area for more than 150 years primarily thanks to Niagara Falls . New development beginning during the mid-1990s has spun off an upscale hospitality boom throughout the whole Niagara Peninsula. Today, more than 10 million guests visit the peninsula annually to see the beauty of the Falls and the Niagara Parks . Ecotourism has become more popular with more people finding and exploring out of

864-769: The city of Welland. Another shorter freeway is Highway 405 , named the General Isaac Brock Parkway in 2006. It begins at the QEW in Niagara-on-the-Lake, just east of St. Catharines, and ends about 9 km away at Queenston, Ontario , where it connects to an international bridge that crosses into the United States at Lewiston, New York . This is also a major travel zone for the Canada/US trucking industry. All cities and some towns in

900-450: The heart of the Niagara Peninsula and enters the U.S. at Buffalo, New York . This gave Niagara the advantage of having direct access to the backbone and attracting many new professional call centers. Compared with the cities of Toronto , Hamilton and most Ontario municipalities with populations similar in size to the whole of the Niagara Peninsula, the average cost of living is very reasonable. The cost of housing, both owned and rented,

936-588: The past decade or more primarily due to the slow-down of the North American automotive manufacturers. Thousands of jobs have been lost at long-time area employers such as General Motors , Thompson Products , Deere & Company , Dana Canada Corp, Port Weller Drydocks, Domtar Papers, and Gallagher Thorold Paper. Because of this, local municipalities have been forced to look at new and diversified opportunities to prevent an exodus of well trained staff. Hospitality and tourism has attracted numerous visitors to

972-414: The peninsula have taxi services while St. Catharines, Niagara Falls and Welland all have a local transit commission. There is also one major airbus company that services Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo airports exclusively. Most cities and some towns also have very limited inter-city bus services operated mostly by Greyhound and Coach Canada. A specialized inter-city regional bus service, owned and operated by

1008-514: The peninsula is the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). This freeway connects Toronto and Buffalo, New York , in the United States. It is one of the major thoroughfares for the North American trucking industry and is responsible for supporting the carriage of nearly one third of all goods imported and exported. The second major roadway is Highway 406 which begins at the QEW in west St. Catharines and ends approximately 30 km south in

1044-543: The peninsula, but by the 1800s, Italian and German immigrants heavily populated the peninsula and were the chief sources of immigrants followed by French , Polish , and other Central Europeans . Following the agricultural period of European settlement, the Niagara area became an important industrial centre, with water-powered mills joined later by hydro-electric power generation in Niagara Falls and electricity-intensive industry in both Niagara Falls and St. Catharines . While agriculture – especially fruit farming along

1080-495: The same stations. The Niagara Region also possesses significant maritime shipping infrastructure. The region is home to Port Weller, Port Colborne, the Welland Canal , and the largest Canadian Great Lakes port, in Hamilton . 43°00′N 79°30′W  /  43.00°N 79.50°W  / 43.00; -79.50 Regional Municipality of Niagara The Regional Municipality of Niagara , also colloquially known as

1116-632: The shore of Lake Ontario – remains important to this day, it was joined in the 19th century by industrial developments. A succession of canals were built to connect the markets and mineral resources of the upper Great Lakes with the St. Lawrence Seaway (See also Welland Canal ). General Motors built a considerable presence in St. Catharines with auto plants and a foundry, and a number of auto-parts manufacturers followed. Dry docks were also built at Port Weller on Lake Ontario. Heavy industry has been diminishing for

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1152-451: The sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located. Their status is internationally recognized. Biosphere reserves are 'Science for Sustainability support sites'. Biosphere reserves have three zones: The first biosphere reserves were designated in 1976 in several countries including the US, UK, Uruguay, Thailand, Iran and Poland. In 1996, the IUCN and MAB published a guideline for how to assess UNESCO biosphere reserves in

1188-500: The summer months. Other key historical locations nearby include: Brock 's Monument, the Laura Secord Monument and the battlefield sites of Battle of Queenston Heights , Battle of Lundy's Lane and Battle of Chippawa . The region's moderate year-round climate, in addition to its close proximity to the United States for easy road and air access to the southern U.S., makes it a popular retirement destination. In fact,

1224-469: The vineyard during the summer months. Visitors come during the coldest months of the year (usually December to February) to watch some varieties of grapes being harvested and pressed outdoors in the vineyard as part of the process of creating the sweetest, and among the most expensive, wine on earth – ice wine . A few Niagara Peninsula wineries have won the most prestigious international awards for their ice wine products, many of which are only available from

1260-569: The way places such as the Niagara Escarpment , named a world Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1990. Another area of major tourism growth in the past thirty years has been the expansion of the grape and wine industry. The Niagara Peninsula is one of four recognized viticultural areas by the VQA in the Ontario wine industry. The many European-style wineries and vineyards have played

1296-553: Was originally inhabited by a First Nations people called the " Neutrals ", so named for their practice of trading goods such as flint arrowhead blanks with both of the feuding regional powers, the Wyandot and Iroquois . The Neutrals were wiped out by the Iroquois c. 1650 as the latter sought to expand their fur-trapping territory as part of the Beaver Wars . From this point until the arrival of United Empire Loyalists following

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