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Issues Ecological Life-support Systems Human Health and Well-being Natural Resources Sustainability Human Activities Over the past 10 years, significant improvements have been observed in the state of Canada's environment: concentrations of toxic compounds in some wildlife species have decreased; the acidification of many lakes has been reversed; air quality, while still a concern, has improved in some urban areas; and agricultural soils are now better protected from erosion. Both individual Canadians and Canadian industries have begun to use some resources more conservatively and to tread more lightly on the environment. Significant decreases have been observed in some toxic emissions, acid-rain-causing sulphur dioxide emissions, the use of ozone-depleting substances, and per capita energy consumption. Per capita water use has declined slightly, and waste recycling has remained constant since 1998. Governments throughout Canada have made important gains in environmental protection. For example, the amount of land strictly protected in Canada has increased from under 4% to over 6% during the past 10 years. Over the past 20 years, investments have been made in municipal wastewater treatment, resulting in a 20% increase between 1991 and 1999 in the percentage of the population served by more advanced treatment technologies.However, significant challenges remain. Although improvements in acidification have been observed in many lakes, a significant number of lakes have shown no improvement, and some have become worse; the dramatic gains made in the 1980s in toxins in wildlife have levelled off and in some cases begun to rise again in the 1990s; air quality in some urban areas has deteriorated, and public health is still being compromised by poor air quality events; the stratospheric ozone layer over Canada still remains below pre-1980 levels; and most species designated as "at risk" by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada have shown either no improvement or a deterioration in their status since first being listed. Canadians continue to exert significant and increasing pressure on some areas of the environment. Total energy consumption is growing, despite improvements in energy efficiency; gains made in automobile emissions and public transit use have been largely offset by increases in automobile travel and the use of larger vehicles; greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 20% since 1990, the base year for the Kyoto Protocol; and total municipal water use is on the rise, as is total waste disposal.Canadians should take credit for the gains made in environmental quality since the 1970s. But there is still work to be done. For example, although Canada has nearly doubled the area protected since 1992, it is still far short of the United Nations suggested target of 12% protected. As well, although many Canadian ecosystems are well protected, other ecosystems have little or no protection. The brief summaries that follow present one key indicator for each issue area. The focus is generally on "state" indicators that depict the condition of the environment and "pressure" indicators that depict human activities that affect the environment. The indicators presented in this summary include those that are metered. |
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