Canada's Sustainability Indicators Initiative

Six sustainability indicators recommended
for Canada by the National Round Table
on the Environment and the Economy

Air Quality Trend Indicator—tracks the exposure of Canadians to a particularly harmful type of air pollutant—ground-level ozone (O3).
This indicator is the first readily available Canadian measure of air quality that weights exposure to a pollutant by population. In other words, this indicator tries to factor in the number of people who are exposed to low-level ozone, as well as the ambient concentrations of ozone in different parts of the country.

Freshwater Quality Indicator—provides a national measure of the overall state of water quality as measured against major objectives for water use in Canada (such as water for drinking, aquatic life habitat, recreation and agriculture).
The indicator will show whether water quality is impaired to the extent that water quality objectives are not being met for these water uses. It will be based on aggregated data from existing provincial-level water quality indices, most of which are calculated using the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME)'s methodology. The indicator will show the proportion of water bodies in the existing monitoring networks that are classified as "marginal" or "poor."

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Indicatortracks Canada's total annual emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. 
Based on the existing national greenhouse gas inventory developed by Environment Canada, the indicator measures aggregate emissions of these gases in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent. This indicator, already developed by Environment Canada, will help Canadians track their progress in helping to address climate change.

Forest Cover Indicator—tracks changes in the extent of Canada’s forests. 
This indicator represents a new use for existing satellite data and will provide the only regularly updated national indicator of forest cover.

Extent of Wetlands Indicator—tracks changes in the total area of wetlands in Canada.
This is the only indicator that cannot be calculated at present, since time-series data on wetlands for the full country do not yet exist. The indicator has nonetheless been recommended due to the importance of wetlands, which support substantial economic activity and are good proxies for the overall condition of our biodiversity. The development of a robust national indicator, based on remote-sensing data, will require approximately two years.

Human Capital Indicator (Educational Attainment)—tracks the percentage of the workforce population with educational qualifications beyond the secondary school level.
It measures the percentage of the Canadian population aged 25 to 64 years who have upper-secondary (e.g. vocational or apprenticeship training) and tertiary-level (e.g. community college, CEGEP or university) educational qualifications. Human capital refers to the "knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being." This indicator will reveal our investment trend in an important aspect of human capitala well-educated workforceand will help us understand our ability to compete in a global, knowledge-based economy.

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