Monday, January 19, 2009

Canada's 6 Sustainability Indicators

So, Canada uses 6 indicators to measure how we are doing as a country at achieving sustainability. These are the following

Air quality in terms of ground-level ozone.
Freshwater quality in terms of meeting government criteria.
Greenhouse gas emissions.
Forest cover to track the extent of our forests.
Extent of wetlands in Canada.
Human capital measured by education.
http://www.sustreport.org/indicators/nrtee_esdi.html

I was thinking, whether or not these really cover the basis of our Canadian community remaining sustainable. This especially got me thinking since the UK has 68 indicators. Which includes a much more detailed and specifics. While looking at the list of UK incicators (http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/national/communities.htm) it became a little more obvious that Canada does need to make some changes. How does measuring ground-level ozone really account for the quality of our air. There are many other air pollutants that harm the environment as well as human health. Forest cover should also include things like the health of the forest (ie how useful is a forest if it is being killed by the pine beetle). Freshwater quality? what about salt water, it should also be important what we are dumping into the oceans surrounding us. What about fish populations, are we overfishing or are the fish populations on the rise? It would also be nice to see some indicators related to human and animal health. Are we really behaving in a sustainable way if our health is on the decline?

I also understand with more indicators it will put more demand on the community tracking them, but, with the use of only six, it seems like it could be possible for us to come out on top, looking like we are sustainable, but in areas not accounted for by indicators, we are failing.

No comments:

Post a Comment