Web site: Consolidating Canada's geoscience knowledge

Canada's global attractiveness for investments in mineral and energy exploration and development, and the soundness of its own sustainable-development decisions, require a comprehensive geoscience knowledge base. This program contributes to establishing more efficient and effective discovery, access, delivery and management of Canada's geoscience data, information and knowledge. In addition, in developing an implementation plan for the Co-operative Geological Mapping Strategies, it is defining new partnerships with provincial and territorial agencies, industry and universities to jointly deliver geoscience knowledge as the basis for fact-based decision making.

Program delivery has been accelerated and expanded through additional funding for two years from Phase 2 of the Targeted Geoscience Initiative announced in the 2003 Government of Canada budget.

Web site: Geoscience for oceans management

This program contributes to the geoscience knowledge that is required to inform decision-making in Canada's off-shore lands so that land-use, including off-shore structures and resource-development decisions, balance social, economic and environmental considerations. Underpinning this program is a systematic approach to sea-floor mapping to deliver geoscience knowledge for integrated ocean management. The legislative and strategic framework for this program is found in the Canada Oceans Act and Canada's Oceans Strategy.

The program focuses on priority areas with multiple sea-floor-use issues, or where large-scale projects require extensive multi-disciplinary knowledge. Projects address four themes: integrated management of large ocean areas; assessment of hazard potential and environmental impact of infrastructure; understanding geological controls on ocean-floor habitat distribution; and assessment of human impact on marine environmental quality in the coastal waters of Eastern Canada.

Web site: Sustainable development through knowledge integration

This program helps to ensure that S&T research data, information and knowledge are effectively integrated, so as to support informed decision-making regarding Canada's progress in sustainable development. In particular, the program is developing methodologies and tools that forecast the impacts of energy consumption, energy loss and mine tailings on sustainable-development indicators. Policy and decision-makers will then have access to geoscience and geomatics data, information and knowledge in a multidisciplinary decision-making context.

Web site: Geomatics for sustainable development of natural resources

Responsible natural-resource management requires geospatial data and information to support actions and decisions. The Geomatics for Sustainable Development of Natural Resources (GSDNR) Program provides consistent, reliable, high-quality, accurate geospatial information to ensure that clients and stakeholders have the capacity to make responsible decisions. Consistent improvements are being made to the reliability and use of this information by incorporating new sources of data, where applicable, and moving towards integration with other reference sources within NRCan.

Web site: Gas hydrates - Fuel of the future?

This program contributes to the development of gas hydrates as an unconventional energy source, in order to ensure a secure energy supply. It will identify the scientific and technological knowledge required for the sustainable development of this resource for all areas in Canada that host large gas-hydrate deposits, mainly in the high Arctic and in off-shore areas, at water depths greater than 800 metres.

Three key projects are gas-hydrate properties and reservoir behaviour, terrestrial occurrences and marine occurrences. The outputs of these projects will allow for detailed characterization of gas-hydrate properties for pilot production tests, potentially in the Mackenzie Delta.

Two strategies are being followed. One will focus on leveraged industrial collaboration and the maintenance of a globally acknowledged and highly motivated scientific team; and the other, on the development of a gas-hydrate policy roadmap, in collaboration with other sectors in NRCan and industry.

Web site: Targeted Geoscience Initiative

The Government of Canada committed $10M over two years to extend the mission of the original three-year Targeted Geoscience Initiative Program with a renewed focus on the energy sector, including energy-oriented activities in Canada's North. The Targeted Geoscience Initiative provides integrated geoscience knowledge pertaining to areas of high energy and mineral potential, with the intent of stimulating private-sector resource exploration. TGI is, by definition, a partnership program, delivered in collaboration with provincial and territorial geological surveys with participation by industry and universities. TGI outputs and outcomes for fiscal years 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 are delivered through projects that are part of both the Northern Resources Development (NRD) and Consolidating Canada's Geoscience Knowledge (CCGK) programs.