Managing our resources into the future

For generations, Canadians have regarded the environment around them as an infinite source of desirable resources such as timber, oil, gas, fish, gold and copper. Our fisheries were 'inexhaustible,' our forests 'limitless,' and arable soil stretched on 'forever.' The land and water provided and strengthened our quality of life and helped define us as a nation.

	Heather Meadows, E.C. Manning Provincial Park, B.C. Photo: Ian & Lorraine Faris

During the 1970s and 1980s, Canadian attitudes about the environment began to change. The emergence of major environmental concerns such as acid rain, ozone depletion and rapidly declining fish stocks have underlined something that Canadian naturalist Grey Owl commented on many years ago: nature does not belong to humanity, but rather humanity belongs to nature. It became clear that the environment's ability to absorb pollution and to withstand depletion while continuing to provide was limited. Sustaining our country environmentally, as well as economically, by managing our natural resources prudently has become a pressing challenge and a timely issue.

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Though sustainable development is unevenly applied across the primary industries, Canadian farmers, fishers, miners and loggers are exploiting their traditional strengths as innovators to help reduce the effects of human activity on the environment. Investment in environmental protection initiatives also plays a significant role. For example, in 2000, the logging; mining; oil and gas extraction; pulp, paper and paperboard mills; and primary metal industries spent $2.6 billion on activities such as land reclamation, habitat protection, and pollution prevention, abatement and control practices.

	Agricultural land west of Ottawa Photo: Edmonde Laplante

The availability of dependable agricultural land is an important sustainability concern for Canadian farmers. From 1971 to 1996, as Canadian cities and towns expanded, some 12,250 square kilometres of land, half of which was potential agricultural land, was given over to urban uses. Ontario alone lost 19% of its prime agricultural land to urbanization over this period. To maintain the productivity of the remaining arable land, Canadian farmers have employed a number of land management techniques that improve soil fertility and prevent erosion. The area of land tilled by conventional practices (which promote erosion and accelerate the decomposition of organic matter) dropped by more than 21% from 1996 to 2001, and by nearly 40% between 1991 and 2001. Conversely, the amount of land tilled using new practices such as conservation and no-till agriculture increased 1% and 92%, respectively, between 1996 and 2001 (25% and 352% since 1991).

The government is also involved in sustainability efforts. This is particularly true in the fight to stem the decline in Canada's fish stocks. First, Canada limits access to the fisheries to individuals holding valid licences. Second, quotas are set for the maximum tonnage of a particular fish species that can be caught in a particular fishery during one fishing season. As soon as this 'total allowable catch' is reached, the fishing season is closed for that year. Third, Canada employs extensive air and sea surveillance to verify catch reports, detect unlicensed vessels and monitor for unlicensed foreign vessels within our 200-mile fishing zone. Surveillance of another kind is being used as well: fisheries officers have begun using deoxyribonucleic acid (more commonly known as DNA) to identify fish caught by poachers.

Since mining is a potential source of disruption to the land, air and water systems around mineral deposits, environmental planning begins before anything is extracted from the earth. Area soils, water systems, air quality, wildlife and vegetation are carefully mapped out beforehand. The proposed land use and reclamation plans, as well as the likely effects of operations on air and water quality, are scrutinized. Exploration and development permits are only issued once the concerns of a number of government departments are satisfactorily addressed. In the end, mines usually disrupt relatively small areas of land for a short time, after which the land is often reclaimed for other uses. Much of what is mined from the earth is also used to protect it, such as lime and carbon for treating water, platinum for controlling car emissions, and peat for conditioning soil.

Being such a treasured resource, 94% of Canada's forests are publicly owned and overseen by governments: 71% under provincial jurisdiction, and 23% under federal jurisdiction. To ensure the long-term health of the resource, these governments set annual allowable cut arrangements (the amount of timber that may be cut on a defined area for a specified period of time) with forestry companies. The remaining 6% of Canada's forests are in the hands of about 425,000 private landowners. Tree planting is another important effort in regenerating our forests. For example, in 2001, just over one million hectares of forest were harvested while 442,000 hectares were either replanted or directly seeded.