Sustainable development is a goal shared by all Canadians. Successfully integrating economic, environmental and social considerations into all resource-related decision-making will support real progress toward achieving this goal. If decision makers are able to strike the right balance among these considerations, it will result in an improved standard of living and an enriched quality of life. Decision makers rely on sound scientific research, reliable information and knowledge upon which to build these strategies.

The Sustainable Development through Knowledge Integration (SDKI) Program, initiated in September 2003, will facilitate the integration of NRCan's scientific assets and its partners in government, academia and industry, who together will develop technology that will enhance the responsible use of Canada's mineral, energy and forestry resources.

NRCan's scientific assets include extensive and unique archives of geospatial and geologic data as well as the scientific knowledge and technologies to use them wisely and effectively to support policy decisions. Through its research programs, mapping services and satellite data receiving stations, enormous quantities of new data are acquired each year.

The 1990s witnessed the development of more and more sophisticated ways of transforming data into information and of making that information readily and widely available. The challenge today, in a knowledge-driven economy, rich with information, is to integrate the many sources of information into systems that will be more accessible and can more effectively support the policy-making and regulatory functions of government.

Today, decisions affecting land use and resource management rely increasingly on knowledge-based and decision support systems. Decision makers must have access to these technologies in order to assist them in planning, forecasting and scenario development.

They therefore require:

• rapid and easy access to both archival and recent information;
• on-line tools which give them the ability to select and analyze different types of information, and;
• customized reports to communicate their results to target audiences.

The advanced data models and integration methods, developed in the SDKI Program will provide sectors involved in natural resources management with innovative and strategic tools to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace, in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Program Manager: Dianne Richardson.