Transcript Slide 1

Reporting the Latest Trends in
Canada’s Environment at
CSIN 2010
The Canadian Environmental Sustainability
Indicators (CESI)
Environment Canada
Background on CESI….
• In May 2003, the National Round Table on the Environment and the
Economy recommended that the federal government establish a key set
of easily understood environmental and sustainable development
indicators.
• In response, in 2005, the government began publishing the annual
Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) Initiative
• CESI is produced by Environment Canada in partnership with Health
Canada and Statistics Canada, and supported by provincial and
territorial contributions.
• CESI provides a national environmental indicators system of
authoritative, best-available information in relation to key issues of high
importance to Canadians:
• Air Quality
• Water Quality
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• to be added for 2009 – Nature - Protected Areas
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CESI meets the following federal objectives:
• The commitment in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act
(1999)
• Requires the minister publish “a periodic report on the state of the
Canadian environment” [44(1)(f)ii]
• The commitment of the Department of Environment Act
• Reporting on the environment
• Requirements of the new Federal Sustainable Development Act
• Positions environmental indicators as a basis for reporting progress
towards sustainable development
• Highlights Government of Canada’s environmental priorities and
legislative agenda
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Key roles of environmental indicators
• Providing reliable, long-term trend information to track
progress
• Highlighting trends in a transparent and accountable
manner to Canadians based on sound, consistent and
scientifically-accepted methodologies
• Enabling decision-makers to understand socioeconomic links to the environment, allowing them to
better focus efforts and make informed decisions
about programs, policies and services
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Key accomplishments over
the past 4 CESI reporting
years
CESI 2005-2007:
• Published annual print and web-based reports
• Improved trends based reporting (i.e. 15 years of
trend data on national ground-level ozone)
• Upgraded air monitoring instrumentation,
developed quality assessment of water data and
air–health indicator methodology
• Updated 4 Statistics Canada surveys to improve
integration of key pressures and drivers
• Nurtured provincial partnerships
CESI 2008:
• Eliminated print reporting
• Indicator information written in a less technical
manner for Canadians
• Improved web-based delivery consistent with online reality
• Improved web functionality with drill down to
indicator information at local, regional levels on a
map
• New information on international comparisons and
individual actions
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CESI Indicators can provide a range of
information on an annual basis…
• National indicator results for air quality, greenhouse gas
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emissions, water quality and protected areas.
Compares indicators for provinces, regions and ecological
areas.
Compares Canadian progress on the world stage
Provides information about the pressures on the indicators
Shows related environmental, health and economic impacts
Includes What can I do? section
Contains a Data, Sources and Methods section.
Allows downloading of data used to create the indicators.
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Air quality: National perspective
showing long range trends
Nationally, the ground-level
ozone exposure indicator
showed an increase of
approximately 13% from 1990
to 2007.
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No trend was detected in the
PM2.5 exposure indicator from
2000 to 2007.
Greenhouse gas emissions: Integration
with economic indicators
 Comparing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions to GDP can help to show how
efficient sectors in the economy are restricting emissions while producing goods and
services for our consumption.
 Between 1990 and 2007 the
level of emissions per unit of
GDP fell by 21% in Canada.
They fell to approximately
0.57 tonnes of carbon
dioxide equivalent in 2007
compared to their peak in
1992 at 0.74 tonnes.
 This means that there was
more economic activity in
2007 for each tonne of
GHGs emitted compared to
1992.
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Water quality: Information by monitoring
station and in your region
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Methodology Improvements to WQI
• A core network of river stations was used to calculate the
national and regional histograms.
– reduces bias of having a large number of stations in the
Windsor-Quebec City corridor
– focuses the indicator on the river basin regions under direct
pressure from human activities.
– Allowed us to eliminate issues of unequal geographic coverage
of monitoring sites in northern and southern Canada
• Stations have been classified according to the extent and
nature of human activities occurring within their drainage
areas.
– This organization allows further analysis and quantification of the
potential pressures human activity is exerting on water quality
across Canada.
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Protected Areas: How does Canada
compare?
Area of protected lands and proportion of land area protected in selected
countries, 2004
Percent
Million square km
1.6
100%
90%
1.4
1.2
Area of protected lands (million square
kilometres)
1.0
Proportion of land area protected (% of
national territory)
80%
70%
60%
0.8
50%
40%
0.6
30%
0.4
20%
0.2
10%
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Sources: OECD Environmental Data Compendium. 2004. (OECD,Paris), Except for the Russia Federation - N.A. Sobolev1, E.A. Shvarts, M. L. Kreindlin, V.
O. Mokievsky, and V. A. Zubakin. 1995. Russia's protected areas: a survey and identification of development problems. Biodiversity and Conservation 4,
964--983 (http://www.springerlink.com/content/g63436w670662446/)
Notes: Restricted to protected areas classified under IUCN categories I through V.
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Key target audiences of CESI and
engagement strategy
Target Audiences
Engagement Opportunities
Interested Canadian public
Website, Newsletters, site level data, weekly
newspaper articles
National and International
government decision-makers and
policy analysts
Website, Newsletters, working groups,
consultations, presentations
Politicians
Householder
Environmental and nongovernmental organizations
Website, Newsletters, data
Industry
Website, Newsletters, data
Media
News release, Website
Academia
Website, newsletters
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CESI 2009 and priorities beyond
Home >
Environment Canada
Sustainable Development
Measuring Sustainabilty:
Canadian Environmental
Sustainability Indicators
2009 Highlights
Air Quality
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Measuring Sustainability: Canadian
Environmental Sustainability Indicators
In Your Region
Step 1: Select a Map
CESI brings together environmental trend information from federal,
provincial and territorial governments, who share responsibilities for
environmental management in Canada. The CESI indicators are an
essential element of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy. The
indicators will help measure progress and inform future decisions for goals
and targets.
Air: Ground Ozone
Step 2: Region
Province:
Air Quality
Postal Code:
Water Levels
Step 3:
Discover what the air quality is like
in Canada and near where you live.
Nature
About the 2009 CESI report
Get Map
Note: Select province or enter the first
three characters of postal code
Research Area
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Highlights
Glossary
Maps and charts
Previous CESI reports
Are GHG emissions in your area
going up or down? Find out here.
Contact CESI
Water Quality & Water Levels
Learn about local, regional and
national water issues.

Air quality

Water quality

Water Levels

Greenhouse gas
emissions

Protected Areas
Key Question:
Nature
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How important is it that the
Government of Canada
tracks trends in air and
water quality and
greenhouse gas emissions?
Find out how Canada is doing in
protected areas to conserve
sensitive habitats.
·
·
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Very Important
Somewhat Important
Not at all Important
Submit
Policy analysts, practitioners, researchers and
academics, here is the information behind the
indicators.
DRAFT
Top of page
•
•
Research Area
Date Modified: YYYY-MM-DD
•
Maps, charts and data tables
Newsletters
Site map
• continue to track and report on
- All -
or
Water Quality
FAQ
CESI will:
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Important Notices
priority environmental
sustainability issues to
Canadians
improve delivery through an
interactive and visually appealing
web site
enhance regional and
international comparisons
improve engagement tools such
as links to common social
networking web sites
track use and perform ongoing
program evaluations
provide integrated analysis of
multiple issues
How can we improve CESI and the
protected area indicator….
• Environment Canada's CESI program encourages you to
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link to the CESI website: http://www.ec.gc.ca/indicateursindicators and;
Share your thoughts on how CESI might evolve to better
meet your needs. Please contact: [email protected]
Contact:
Darlene Thibault
Director, Information and Indicators Division
email: [email protected]
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