Publications Search Results

Environmental Indicators

• Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators, 2006
  The current report presents environmental indicators for water quality, air quality, and greenhouse gas emissions. The freshwater quality indicator reports the status of surface water quality at selected monitoring sites across Canada. The air indicator reports national and regional trends in ground-level ozone, a key component of smog. The greenhouse gas indicator describes the trend in emissions and the contribution to the trend by energy production, energy consumption and other factors.
  
  
• Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators, 2006 - Highlights
  This publication highlights key findings from the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators 2006 report. The full report provides more detail on each indicator and the links among them. It is available electronically on the Government of Canada website on Sustaining the Environment and Resources for Canadians (www.environmentandresources.ca) and the Statistics Canada website (www.statcan.ca). These sites also contain background information on each of the indicators - the science, the data, the methods and the limitations.
  
  
• Environmental Signals - Canada's National Environmental Indicator Series, 2003
  In this report, we present the entire National Environmental Indicator Series, providing a broad picture of the current state of Canada's environment, as well as the linkages between issue areas. Each issue area is structured in terms of the human activities that act as pressures on the environment, the condition of the environment, and societal responses to address the issue.
  
  
• Environmental Signals - Headline Indicators, 2003
  This report contains a set of 12 key indicators, which we term "headline" indicators, that are intended to provide a broad overview of trends in Canada's environment in areas that are important to Canadians. Nine themes are addressed: water use, wastewater treatment, air quality, climate change, acid rain, stratospheric ozone depletion, wildlife & wilderness, toxic substances, and waste & recycling. The report also provides hints as what individuals can do to reduce pressures on the environment for each issue area.
  
  
• National Environmental Indicator Series
  Environmental indicators are selected key statistics that provide information on significant trends in the environment, natural resources, and related human activities. They help to provide a profile of the state of Canada's environment and measure progress towards sustainable development.
  
  
• Sharing Environmental Decisions - Final Report of the Task Force on a Canadian Information System for the Environment
  This report contains the Task Force recommendations on the design and implementation of a Canadian Information System for the Environment (CISE). It outlines the objectives of the system, its vision, structure, functions, operations and implementation. The executive summary and recommendations are available as a separate document(see CISE 3).
  
  
• Sharing Environmental Decisions - Final Report of the Task Force on a Canadian Information System for the Environment: Executive Summary and Recommendations
  This document contains selected material from the final report (see, CISE-1).
  
  
• The State of Canada's Environment - 1996
  This report is a central reference for Canadian scientists, researchers, students, journalists, lawyers and community leaders interested in environmentally responsible policy and action. This comprehensive 800-page report features: - scientific observation and statistical data on a wide range of environmental issues - analysis of the environment by ecozone as well as by political boundary - sections on the environmental impact of lifestyles, transportation, manufacturing and recreation - more than 400 graphs and tables bringing Canada's environmental realities into crisp focus.
  
  
• The State of Municipal Wastewater Effluents in Canada
  This comprehensive report outlines the sources and the nature of contaminants entering municipal sewer systems, the degree of municipal wastewater treatment across Canada, the wide variety of impacts that municipal wastewater effluents can have on water quality and on plant and animal life, and the implications of these impacts for human health and beneficial water uses, such as shellfish harvesting and recreation. It concludes by examining how municipal wastewater is managed in Canada and what our society is doing to improve the quality of the effluents to mitigate harmful effects.
  
  
• The Vision for Federal State of the Environment Reporting in Canada
  In April 1997, the five natural resource (5NR) departments approved a vision for state of the environment (SOE) reporting that responds to demands for more focused and timely environmental information. The vision is designed to promote a federal government-wide commitment to reporting to Canadians on the state of the country's environment. The five natural resource departments are: - Agriculture and Agri-food Canada; - Environment Canada; - Fisheries and Oceans Canada; - Health Canada; and - Natural Resources Canada
  
  
• Tracking Key Environmental Issues
  This report provides an overview of the status and trends of some key environmental issues of concern to Canadians. Five key areas are examined: air, water, nature, climate change and severe weather. The report looks at what we know about the issues in these areas, as well as what we need to know in order to take more effective action.