Web site: Groundwater

As a result of this program, major Canadian groundwater aquifers will be mapped and research undertaken on aquifer dynamics to help ensure clean and sustainable groundwater and to fill gaps in knowledge with respect to groundwater resources in Canada. This is being undertaken in partnership with other federal departments, the provinces and territories, and other stakeholders.

Priorities for geoscience, identified through national consultations that led to the creation of the Canadian Framework for Collaboration in Groundwater, include the development of a Canadian inventory of groundwater resources and assessing regional aquifer dynamics, such as recharge and discharge; estimation of sustainable yield; and quantification of vulnerability.

Web site: Reducing Canada's vulnerability to climate change

The goal of the ESS Climate Change program is to reduce the vulnerability of Canadians, their communities, and the country's infrastructure to climate change. This goal will be achieved through conducting and publicizing research aimed at an improved understanding of the sensitivity of Canada's landmass and coastal areas, and through the incorporation of new knowledge in planning and resource management.

The program's six projects are linked by common themes, including landscape and ecosystem vulnerability. The project study areas overlap geographically and share common socio-economic aspects.

Web site: Metals in the Environment

This program supports the assessment and management of ecosystem and human-health risks posed by metals in the environment. It does so by informing regulations and risk-management decisions with an improved understanding of the presence of metals in the environment, the source apportionment (human vs. natural), the processes controlling the concentration levels, their availability to enter the food chain and historical accumulation trends.

The program develops links at the policy level with other government departments including Health Canada, Environment Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

At the request of federal government agencies responsible for specialized land-use designations (e.g. Parks Canada, Department of Fisheries and Oceans), and consistent with federal legislation and policy, the LERA program will provide resource assessments so that the mineral and energy resource potential is duly considered when establishing protected areas. These assessments will apply to lands under federal jurisdiction and under consideration as National Parks, Marine Protected Areas or other special designations that restrict mineral or energy development, including those in the Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut) and Canada Lands off-shore.

In response to federal government agencies' requests and as required by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA), the program will also provide expert geoscience reviews of projects undergoing environmental assessment ensuring the identification, consideration and minimizing of adverse environmental impacts.