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About Canada >
Environment & Sustainability
Canada's environment is central to the nation's quality of life. Our vast forests, fields and tundra, our seas, and our thousands of lakes and rivers sustain health and prosperity. On June 11, 1971, Canada became the second country in the world (after France) to establish a formal ministry of environment. Environment Canada continues to actively conserve and protect our air, water, land, wildlife and people. Its mission is to help make sustainable development a reality in Canada - and set an example to the rest of the world - by promoting the integration of environmental, social and economic factors in decision-making at all levels of society ...
more.
> Protection & Conservation
> Climate Change
> Clean Air
> Water
> Recycling
> Useful Links
Protection & Conservation
Although human activity has fragmented and reduced many ecosystems, the number, size and variety of protected areas in Canada continue to grow. In 1950, protected areas totalled 2 percent of the territory; today, there are some 3 000 national sites with an environmental
conservation purpose, or about 9 percent of Canada's total surface area. Canada has one of the best records in the world for species conservation. For example, Environment Canada protects over 400 species of migratory birds and more than 11 million hectares of habitat. According to a 1996 report by the World Conservation Union, only 3.5 percent of Canadian mammals are at risk ...more.
Climate Change
Climate change is more than a warming trend. Increasing temperatures lead to changes in many aspects of weather, such as wind patterns, the amount and type of precipitation, and the types and frequency of severe weather events that may be expected to occur. Such climate change could have far-reaching and/or unpredictable environmental, social and economic consequences. Across Canada, governments, business and industry, communities, schools, and individual Canadians are taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and raise awareness and understanding of the importance of such actions. These Canadians are part of a larger, worldwide effort to reduce and adapt to the impacts of climate change. On November 26, 2001, the Government of Canada announced the details of $425.15 million in concrete initiatives that will help reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions ...more.
Clean Air
Air pollution affects the health of all Canadians, especially children, the elderly and those with respiratory and cardiac conditions. Federal studies show there are 5,000 deaths a year that can be attributed to air pollution. Clean air is being addressed by actions on
transportation emissions, transboundary pollution, industrial emissions, science, and by encouraging the many different actions that can be taken at the corporate level and by individuals. The Government of Canada has taken a number of actions in recent months that address the clean air priority ...more.
Water
Canada is often called a "water-rich" nation - we are the stewards of 9 % of the world's renewable fresh water supply, we have the longest oceans coastline of any country, as well as the second largest continental shelf along our coasts. However, Canada's high per capita water usage, coupled with other stressors such as population growth, introduces pressures on Canada's freshwater resources. While we enjoy one of the highest standards of clean water in the world, pollution also remains an important problem in some of our waters. Though Canada has significantly reduced the flow of pollution into its waters, the future continues to hold tremendous challenges as global demands for pesticides, manufactured chemical goods and products rise and the number of substances known or strongly suspected to be toxic continues to grow. The challenge for Canada is to continue to build international cooperation, in particular, on the issue of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants ...more.
Recycling
Canada's recycling sector is both mature and extensive - it includes an excess of 2800 metal recycling firms geographically diffused across every province and territory. Virtually every major Canadian community is serviced, in some manner, by a Canadian metals recycler
...more.
Useful Links
> Clean Air
> Air Quality Study (Pacific)
> Environment (stats)
> Subject Directory
> Water Quality
> Oceans Conservation
> Water (stats)
> Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC)
> Weather Conditions in Capital and Major Cities (stats)
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