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Addressing the 'wicked problem' of nutrient pollution requires coordinated policies spanning across diverse sectors and environmental systems. Using a case study of Canadian legislation, we apply semantic network analysis to identify thematic links across an inventory of 245 nutrient-related policies. Our analysis identifies twelve topics with unique types of connections across multiple facets of Canadian society. 'Hub' policies include broad environmental protection, land use planning, and climate-related legislation with close ties to multiple other topics. 'Bridge' policies create connections among otherwise disconnected topics in the network, representing opportunities to inform new policy proposals. Some legislation, such as food processing regulations, indirectly relates to nutrient use but could inform policy integration towards more coordinated and holistic nutrient management across the food system. A computational text network approach can be useful for addressing challenges in complex policy analysis, including by identifying unique entry points to guide more cross-cutting nutrient policy development., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.)

This study explores the impact of environmental policies and human development on the CO 2 emissions for the period of 1995-2015 in the Group of Seven and BRICS economies in the long run through panel cointegration and causality tests. The causality analysis revealed a bilateral causality between environmental stringency policies and CO 2 emissions for Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and a unilateral causality from CO 2 emissions to the environmental stringency policies for Canada, China, and France. On the other hand, the analysis showed a bilateral causality between human development and CO 2 emissions for Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and unilateral causality from CO 2 emissions to human development in Brazil, Canada, China, and France. Furthermore, the cointegration analysis indicated that both environmental stringency policies and human development had a decreasing impact on the CO 2 emissions.

The article offers information on the law Canada's environmental policy of ecological protection which has come under the new Canadian Conservative Party by its victory. Topics discussed include importance of environmental protection for the people of Canada, Harper Government designed environmental policy rejected Kyoto and attacked the Liberal Party's carbon tax and environmental strategy, and proposal of environmental allowance into a single omnibus spending budget implementation bill for jobs and growth in Canada.

In a federal system of government, powers are shared by the national and sub-national units in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. However, the process of policy implementation may differ on the basis of allocation of power and the nature of the system. Canada and the United States of America adopted federal systems of government, and faced similar pressures for implementing policies on environmental issues. Yet, the degree of success and outcome appear to be different due to variations in the strength of the respective federalist systems. An analysis of the various aspects of the federal system in the two countries reveals noticeable differences in institutional configurations, relationship between national and sub-national units, and variances in intra-institutional relations. All these have contributed to a divergence in the past, but there is an emerging trend of convergence as both the Canadian and American governments are gradually moving away from their existing patterns of policy implementation toward a new approach involving private-sector initiatives and self-enforcement with strong inclinations toward voluntarization, corporatization and marketization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies notable trends in environmental policy surrounding oil and gas development in Canada’s leading producing provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan) in the period from 2009 to 2014: environmental policy streamlining in particular via the consolidation of environmental policymaking in development-oriented agencies, the continuation and raising of barriers to public involvement in decisions on oil and gas activity, and the avoidance of cumulative impact assessment. These trends signal policy convergence facilitating oil and gas development during a period of accelerating extraction and weakening federal environmental policy. More broadly, this confirms a pattern of conventional politics in energy-dependent subnational governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 3 decades, indigenous guardian programs (also known as indigenous rangers or watchmen) have emerged as an institution for indigenous governments to engage in collaborative environmental governance. Using a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature for research conducted in Australia, Canada, Aotearoa-New Zealand, and the United States, we sought to characterize the emergence of indigenous guardians in the literature and explore whether guardian approaches are representative of Indigenous approaches to environmental governance. Using a multistep relevance-screening method, we reviewed 83 articles published since 1995, that report on, critique, or comment on Indigenous guardians. Our findings indicated that most articles on the topic were published in the last decade (88%), focused on Australia (65%), and were in a social science discipline (53%). The lead author of the majority of articles was an academic, although only half of the articles included an indigenous scholar or member of an indigenous group or organization as a coauthor. Finally, 11 articles were on research of guardian programs that were locally led and only 5 exemplified indigenous governance, based on 2 well-known community-based monitoring typologies. Our findings indicate that more research is required to understand the implications of current guardian programs for indigenous self-determination, particularly when such programs are embedded in a broader western environmental governance structure., (© 2020 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)

Many global environmental agendas, including halting biodiversity loss, reversing land degradation, and limiting climate change, depend upon retaining forests with high ecological integrity, yet the scale and degree of forest modification remain poorly quantified and mapped. By integrating data on observed and inferred human pressures and an index of lost connectivity, we generate a globally consistent, continuous index of forest condition as determined by the degree of anthropogenic modification. Globally, only 17.4 million km 2 of forest (40.5%) has high landscape-level integrity (mostly found in Canada, Russia, the Amazon, Central Africa, and New Guinea) and only 27% of this area is found in nationally designated protected areas. Of the forest inside protected areas, only 56% has high landscape-level integrity. Ambitious policies that prioritize the retention of forest integrity, especially in the most intact areas, are now urgently needed alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and restoring the integrity of forests globally.

This paper reports on a Delphi Study undertaken at Dalhousie University in which a multi-stake- holder panel was consulted in order to generate ideas that could be incorporated into an Implementation Plan for the University Environmental Policy (UEP). The objectives of the study were twofold. First, the study endeavored to develop ideas as to the most desirable and feasible ways in which to incorporate the UEP into the activities and structure of the university. Second, the study sought to assess the applicability of the Delphi Technique for consulting with stakeholders in the development of an implementation plan. The final analyses confirm the literature on the challenges, barriers and opportunities encountered for institutional environmental change in higher education. The study also confirms the findings of existing research that promotes the Delphi Technique as an excellent tool to inform the creation of educational and social policy. Specifically, this study illustrates the benefits of applying the Policy Delphi Technique to the development of an Environmental Policy Implementation Plan in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review is presented of the article "A Model Environmental Nation? Canada as a Case Study for Informing U.S. Environmental Policy” by T. Timothy Casey which is in this issue.

Enactment of any environmental policy should be followed by an evaluation of its efficacy to ensure optimal utilization of limited resources, yet measuring the success of these policies can be a challenging task owing to a dearth of data and confounding factors. We examine the efficacy of ballast water policies enacted to prevent biological invasions in the Laurentian Great Lakes. We utilize four criteria to assess the efficacy of this environmental regulation; (1) Is the prescribed management action demonstrably effective? (2) Is the management action effective under operational conditions? (3) Can compliance be achieved on a broad scale? (4) Are desired changes observed in the environment? The four lines of evidence resulting from this analysis indicate that the Great Lakes ballast water management program provides robust, but not complete, protection against ship-mediated biological invasions. Our analysis also indicates that corresponding inspection and enforcement efforts should be undertaken to ensure that environmental policies translate into increased environmental protection. Similar programs could be implemented immediately around the world to protect the biodiversity of the many freshwater ecosystems which receive ballast water discharges by international vessels. This general framework can be extended to evaluate efficacy of other environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term “policy analytical capacity” (PAC) is used within the policy analysis literature to describe the ability of organizations to produce valuable research and analysis on topics of their choosing. This note discusses the results of an interview-based investigation into the PAC of several important environmental policy research organizations working on climate change policy in Canada - two governmental organizations and one NGO - in order to provide insight into the concept, how it can be examined and where future study would be helpful to better understand PAC and its implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on the environmental policy in Canada. The author argues that the Canadian environmental and resource policy failed to use economic instruments that would be important to the development of the policy. The policy focuses on air quality regulation, water quality regulation, water pricing and energy conservation.

Discusses the importance of the monitoring of the herring gull to the development of environmental policy on organohalogens in Ontario. Forensic toxicology; Skepticism and post normal science; Implications for human health.

Focuses on the environmental policy of Canada. Reduction of environmental expenditures and initiatives; Presentation of possible explanations of the decline in environmental protection; Domination of regional forces and disputes over national public policy; Role of globalization in policy implementation.

Evaluates the impact of environmental policy on the sustainability of Canada. Effect of environmentally destructive practices on cultural heritage; Difficulties in achieving sustainability; Context of the Forest Practices Code; Assessment of the attempt to enact the endangered species legislation; Efforts of the country to implement nuclear waste policy.

Based on the fact that Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2011, we study the impact of loosening environmental policies on firm performance of Canada's oil and gas sector. This work complements the limitation of Porter hypothesis, which only discusses the relationship between environmental policy and corporate performance from the perspective of strict environmental policy. Hence, this paper adopts investment efficiency to measure corporate performance, and discusses the long-term and heterogeneous effects of loose environmental policies on Canada's oil and gas firms. We find that environmental policy loosening is conducive to improving the investment efficiency of oil and gas enterprises, which declines annually and becomes stable at a certain level. However, the biggest beneficiaries of loose environmental policies are low-investment-efficiency firms and oil sand firms. This result suggests that environmental policy loosening can boost the performance of enterprises, but alleviate their emission reduction pressure at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2006 and 2011, the Canadian Conservative government advocated the concept of ‘open federalism’ which sought to minimize the role of the federal government in areas falling under provincial jurisdiction. Environmental policy-making was particularly impacted with the passage of the highly contentious 2012 omnibus Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act, commonly known as Bill C-38. This paper argues that environmental policy needs to ‘bring back federalism’ into their analysis. In order to do so, a mechanisms approach is employed and focuses on the role of both macro and meso level historical institutionalism mechanisms in explaining policy layering and policy dismantling during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on environmental issues and policies in Canada from the perspective that the U.S. can learn from the Canadian model. Discussion topics include an overlap of resources and a shared border with similar landscapes between the two countries, the development of natural resources such as oil sands in the western regions of both nations, and a coordination of access to fisheries and sustainability of fish stock in shared coastal waters. Canada's position on climate change and the commercial development of a Northwest Passage across the Arctic region are noted.

Environmental and health issues top the political agendas of all levels of Canadian government. environmental groups are most concerned about climate change and reducing related anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Health advocates are concerned about Canada's growing rate of obesity and ensuing health problems. In this era of lifestyle politics, Anthony giddens suggests governments and community groups need to collaborate to address these issues. In Nova Scotia, however, the government's collaboration with off-highway vehicle groups to develop a trail system is under attack from an active transportation group, the Kieran Pathways Society. By identifying social, political, and economic discourses, this case demonstrates how lifestyles politics have not only supplanted emancipatory politics but also neglect ecocentric values. Thus, giddens' "Third Way" may not resolve today's environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term biodiversity is widely used by scientists, international policy makers and the general public. Its representation in mass media plays a key role in shaping public perceptions of biodiversity and informing the public about scientific developments with implications for ecosystem conservation and management. Our exploratory case study of major newspapers in the province of Québec, Canada, characterized the representation of biodiversity in the media from 2006 to 2012 in 567 articles. We showed that biodiversity was not explicitly defined in the media, yet consistently associated with positive outcomes, views and beliefs. The term was used as a catch-all argument frequently supporting proponent and opponent views regarding an issue or project. Overall, the definitions, uses and values associated with biodiversity did not change significantly over the study period, except for a small increase of the term in news media during the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity compared to the average. There was, however, evidence of a shift towards ecosystem services associated with the concept following 2010. As such, potential linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem services reflected in the scientific literature seem to be reflected in media discourse. We discuss these trends and contrast them with the representation of other core environmental issues such as climate change and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on United States' experience with judicial review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its implications about the appropriate design of mechanisms for public input into the development of Canadian environmental policy. Environmental impact statement process under NEPA; Symbolic effects of NEPA litigation; Effect of enhanced judicial review in Canada.

Comments on the contents of books about natural resource and environmental policies in Canada. 'Last Stand: A Journey Through North America's Vanishing Ancient Rainforest,' by Larry Pynn; 'Clearcutting the Pacific Rainforest: Production, Science, and Regulation,' by Richard A. Rajala; 'Against the Grain: Foresters and Politics in Nova Scotia.

Examines relative coerciveness associated with the policy instruments used by municipal, provincial and federal governments in Canada. Emphasis on environmental policies; Importance of the balance of power between regulator and 'regulatee' in explaining relative coerciveness; Methods used for understanding instrument selection.

Discusses Canada's policy of supporting the Kyoto Protocol in its current form. Highlights of the Kyoto Protocol; Technical problems and concerns on emission trading program; Danger for Canada of combining international emission trading and foreign business ownership; Negative economic implications of the protocol trading provisions.

Despite what would appear to be pressures for policy convergence in Canada due to growing continental integration and market competitiveness, agro-environmental policies in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario have become increasingly divergent over the past decade. Quebec's policies are comprehensive, coercive in approach and intrusive in the production process; those in Ontario, while comprehensive, rely more on industry self-regulation and shy away from intruding significantly into farming practices. Three institutional factors help explain this policy divergence. First, Quebec's main environmental act enabled the Ministry of the Environment to participate in the agro-environmental policy community's "subgovemment," while the Ministry of the Environment in Ontario remained in the "attentive public." Second, the agricultural policy network in Ontario took on many attributes of closed bipartite corporatism during the 1990s, thereby enhancing the power potential of Ontario's farmers. Third, path dependence related to policy feedback predisposed Ontario to self-regulatory approaches, but favoured strong statist policies in Quebec. The combination of these institutional differences creates distinct negotiation settings in the two provinces. Consequently, in Ontario, policy discussions tend to focus on wealth generation to the exclusion of distributive justice, while in contrast, Quebec's institutions focus more on distributive issues, perhaps at the expense of aggregate value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cites evidence on the convergence of Canadian environmental policy with that of the United States. Pattern of lagged emulation of American environmental initiatives; Paucity of superior court level judicialization of environmental issues from 1980 to 1989; Differences in the institutional and constitutional structures of both countries.

Summarizes the conclusions of a comparative study of the environmental policy experiences of Alberta and Ontario. Emergence of a common pattern of environmental politics and policy-making at different paces; Attribution of divergence to societal and political differences between the two provinces; Role of federal-provincial relations and American influences.

Lead wheel weights (LWWs) have been banned in Europe, and some US States, but they continue to dominate the market in Canada. Exposure to lead is associated with numerous health impacts and can result in multiple and irreversible health problems which include cognitive impairment when exposure occurs during early development. Such impacts incur high individual and social costs. The purpose of this study was to assess the costs and public health benefits of a Risk Management Strategy (RMS) that would result from a LWW phase-out in Canada and compare this to a Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario. The contribution of LWWs to lead concentrations in media including roadway soil/dust, ambient and indoor air, and indoor dust were estimated. The Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic Model for Lead in Children (IEUBK) was used to develop estimates for the blood lead levels (BLLs) in children (μg/dL) associated with the BAU and the RMS. The BLLs estimated via the IEUBK model were then used to assess the IQ decrements associated with the BAU that would be avoided under the RMS. The subsequent overall societal benefits in terms of increased lifetime earning potential and reduced crime rate, were then estimated and compared to industry and government costs. LWWs form 72% of the Canadian wheel weight market and >1500 tonnes of lead as new LWWs attached to vehicles enters Canadian society annually. We estimate that 110-131 tonnes of lead in detached WWs are abraded on roadways in Canada each year. A LWW phase-out was predicted to result in a drop in pre-school BLLs of up to 0.4 μg/dL. The estimated net benefits associated with the RMS based on cognitive decrements avoided and hence increased lifetime earning potential (increased productivity) and reduced crime are expected to be: C$248 million (8% discount rate) to C$1.2 billion (3% discount rate) per year., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Future ecological value of emerging habitats must be considered as climate change transforms the planet.

This study investigates the behavioral responses of urban and semirural residents to a newly initiated Canadian national park environmental policy. The policy involved the reduction of service facilities within the park and a concomitant emphasis on the park's natural environment. (BT)

More than any previous presidential transition, the 2016 election of Donald Trump gave rise to fears on both sides of the border as to what consequences might follow for the state of the environment. In Canada, by contrast, the 2015 election of a Liberal government was widely expected to produce a significant increase in both environmental spending and regulation. Divergence in the environmental policies of the two countries and friction over transboundary environmental issues appeared likely. Three years after the election of President Trump, the environmental policy conflicts between Canada and the United States are fewer and less fractious than many anticipated. Moreover, the consequences for Canada of the Trump administration's weaker concern for the environment also have been less dire than many predicted. In short, the environmental relationship between Canada and the United States has proved to be more resilient than expected. Two main factors are responsible for blunting the bilateral effects of an undeniable and wide gap between the Trudeau and Trump governments on the environment. One involves the nature of environmental policy, characterized by high levels of technical and scientific complexity, multiple stakeholders, and the important role of subnational governments. The second factor involves governmental structure. In particular, the American system of divided powers makes it more difficult than Canada's more centralized, prime ministerial system of government to change the direction of policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study empirically investigates whether targeted government spending and environmental policies promote green growth, as measured by greenhouse gas productivity. Government spending for pollution abatement (GEPA) represents non-market environmental policies encompassing both enforcement regulations and stakeholder incentives, while policy dummy represents province specific targeted environmental policies. Using panel data from 1995 to 2020 across ten provinces of Canada, an empirical model based on STIRPAT has been developed and estimated, addressing various econometric issues to ensure the robustness and consistency of the results. The findings confirm that both GEPA and targeted environmental policies are crucial determinants in achieving green growth. Additionally, variables such as business sector expenditures for R&D, the share of renewable energy, per capita GDP, and population also contribute to green growth. These results highlight the importance of the stick-and-carrot approach as a key strategy and policy tool for sustainable development. The implications of these findings extend beyond Canada and hold valuable lessons for emerging and developing countries that predominantly rely on command-and-control regulations without adequate support. To effectively address the challenge of achieving green growth, a coordinated approach that combines targeted government spending and environmental policies, supported by innovation and renewable energy exploration, is essential. Overall, this study's findings have significant implications for environmental sustainability on a global scale. [Display omitted] • Examines the effect of targeted government spending and environmental policies on green growth in Canada. • Uses greenhouse gas productivity as an index of green growth. • Estimates the empirical model developed addressing advanced econometric issues related to panel data for 1995–2020. • Controls renewable energy, innovation, per capita income, population. • Have significant implications for environmental sustainability on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The European Union (EU) has historically sought to influence environmental policies of other countries through multilateral environmental agreements. Under its 7th Environmental Action Plan and Trade for All strategy it now seeks to extend its environmental policy projection through trade; its recent free trade agreements now contain chapters addressing environment and sustainable development. However, by adopting high environmental standards the EU can also advance its own economic interests suggesting an ambiguous motivation. The recent Korean, Japanese and Canadian FTAs and the Mercosur agreements are examined in order to place the extent of this environmental turn within the context of economic advantage. The finding is that while environmental protection provisions in these FTAs may have environmental benefits, they may also serve EU domestic economic interests. This motivation has implications for new FTA negotiations, such as those with New Zealand and Australia, and now the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the short-run and long-run asymmetric impact of fiscal decentralization, green energy, and economic policy uncertainty on environmental sustainability proxied by ecological footprint. Using the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed lag (NARDL) approach in selected five OECD countries, we find that ecological footprint responds to positive and negative fiscal decentralization asymmetrically in the long run and short run. However, the nature of the response varies significantly across countries. The result also suggests that green energy is a major factor in reducing the ecological footprint in all countries except Canada. Finally, economic policy uncertainty plays a negative and significant role in the ecological footprint in the UK, USA, and Germany while insignificant in Australia and Canada. Implications for effective environmental policies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species hybrids have long been undervalued in conservation and are often perceived as a threat to pure species. Recently, the conservation value of hybrids, especially those of natural origin, has gained recognition; however, hybrid conservation remains controversial. We reviewed hybrid management policies, including laws, regulations, and management protocols, from a variety of organizations, primarily in Canada and the United States. We found that many policies are based on limited ethical and ecological considerations and provide little opportunity for hybrid conservation. In most policies, hybrids are either unrepresented or considered a threat to conservation goals. This is problematic because our review of the hybrid conservation literature identified many ethical and ecological considerations relevant to determining the conservation value of a hybrid, all of which are management-context specific. We also noted a lack of discussion of the ethical considerations regarding hybrid conservation. Based on these findings, we created a policy framework outlining situations in which hybrids could be eligible for conservation in Canada and the United States. The framework comprises a decision tree that helps users determine whether a hybrid should be eligible for conservation based on multiple ecological and ethical considerations. The framework may be applied to any hybrid and is flexible in that it accommodates context-specific management by allowing different options if a hybrid is a threat to or could benefit conservation goals. The framework can inform policy makers and conservationists in decision-making processes regarding hybrid conservation by providing a systematic set of decision criteria and guidance on additional criteria to be considered in cases of uncertainty, and it fills a policy gap that limits current hybrid management., (© 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.)

Surface water quality is particularly sensitive to land use practices and climatic events that affect its catchment. The relative influence of a set of watershed characteristics (climate, land use, morphology and pedology) and climatic variables on two key water quality parameters (turbidity and fecal coliforms (FC)) was examined in 24 eastern Canadian catchments at various spatial scales (1 km, 5 km, 10 km and the entire catchment). A regression analysis revealed that the entire catchment was a better predictor of water quality. Based on this information, linear mixed effect models for predicting turbidity and FC levels were developed. A set of land use and climate scenarios was considered and applied within the water quality models. Four land use scenarios (no change, same rate of variation, optimistic and pessimistic) and three climate change scenarios (B1, A1B and A2) were tested and variations for the near future (2025) were assessed and compared to the reference period (2000). Climate change impacts on water quality remained low annually for this time horizon (turbidity: +1.5%, FC: +1.6%, A2 scenario). On the other hand, the influence of land use changes appeared to predominate. Significant benefits for both parameters could be expected following the optimistic scenario (turbidity: -16.4%, FC: -6.3%; p < 0.05). However, pessimistic land use scenario led to significant increases on an annual basis (turbidity: +11.6%, FC: +15.2%; p < 0.05). Additional simulations conducted for the late 21st century (2090) revealed that climate change impacts could become equivalent to those modeled for land use for this horizon., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Since Confederation in 1867, official Canadian settler government policy on the environment has sought to simultaneously preserve “wilderness” and exploit natural resources for market gain. In the 1960s, the nascent North American modern environmental movement pushed for stronger regulation on pollution and toxics - and a more institutionalised state-led response to environmental problems emerged. Throughout the last five decades, three principal “eras” of federal government reaction have emerged in response to mounting scientific evidence and public pressure to act on environmental issues. The first, from the late-1960s to mid-1980s, saw the development and implementation of early environmental policy and programmes. The second era, from the mid-1980s to mid-2000s co-occurred alongside the rise of the sustainable development paradigm, and is marked by the Canadian government’s attempt at leadership on the global stage. The third era, from the mid-2000s to 2015, demonstrates a shift from environmental regime-building and multilateral collaboration toward rollbacks and obstructionism. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the government of Canada reversed decades of progress and cooperation on the environment and sustainable development through its muzzling of government scientists, superficial co-optation of climate policy, rollbacks of environmental legislation and disparagement of environmental activists. In total, by shifting the federal government from a position of ineffective benevolence on environmental issues to one of contention and antagonism, the Harper government’s approach represents a departure from Canadian environmental governance norms and sought to remake the identity of Canada as an energy superpower inextricably tied to its oil and gas industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two fundamental and inter-related tensions relating to environmental assessment between the desire to be proactive, promoting sustainable development and the more traditional practice of preventing harm, as well as the need to balance a predictable, expeditious and efficient process with transparency and inclusive deliberation. Proposed reforms to the environmental assessment process in Ontario, Canada, are examined as a case in point, showing how the recommendations in Ontario are consistent with international trends. In particular, over-arching principles need to be embedded in more precise sector-specific policies to enable environmental assessment processes to meet these competing goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Portland Metropolitan region, a single economic and ecological region with a bifurcated state and local governance structure, provides an opportunity to compare governance models and state policy environments in a single region. Using stakeholder interviews and secondary sources, we examine the role of state government policy in shaping and supporting different regimes. We find that Portland exhibits a stable, “smart-growth” regime that we characterized as a metropolitan eco-regime whereas Vancouver is in a period of fragmentation without a stable metropolitan regime. This is best explained by the differing state-level regulatory contexts and the different forms of polycentricity influenced by state action. Differences in regime and governance structure result in differently drawn and expanded urban growth boundaries with subsequent differences in land-use outcomes. We conclude with observations about state-level action and subsequent forms of polycentricity to support metropolitan eco-regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand for better representation of cultural considerations in environmental management is increasingly evident. As two cases in point, ecosystem service approaches increasingly include cultural services, and resource planners recognize indigenous constituents and the cultural knowledge they hold as key to good environmental management. Accordingly, collaborations between anthropologists, planners, decision makers and biodiversity experts about the subject of culture are increasingly common-but also commonly fraught. Those whose expertise is culture often engage in such collaborations because they worry a practitioner from 'elsewhere' will employ a 'measure of culture' that is poorly or naively conceived. Those from an economic or biophysical training must grapple with the intangible properties of culture as they intersect with economic, biological or other material measures. This paper seeks to assist those who engage in collaborations to characterize cultural benefits or impacts relevant to decision-making in three ways; by: (i) considering the likely mindset of would-be collaborators; (ii) providing examples of tested approaches that might enable innovation; and (iii) characterizing the kinds of obstacles that are in principle solvable through methodological alternatives. We accomplish these tasks in part by examining three cases wherein culture was a critical variable in environmental decision making: risk management in New Zealand associated with Māori concerns about genetically modified organisms; cultural services to assist marine planning in coastal British Columbia; and a decision-making process involving a local First Nation about water flows in a regulated river in western Canada. We examine how 'culture' came to be manifest in each case, drawing from ethnographic and cultural-models interviews and using subjective metrics (recommended by theories of judgment and decision making) to express cultural concerns. We conclude that the characterization of cultural benefits and impacts is least amenable to methodological solution when prevailing cultural worldviews contain elements fundamentally at odds with efforts to quantify benefits/impacts, but that even in such cases some improvements are achievable if decision-makers are flexible regarding processes for consultation with community members and how quantification is structured., (Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

With unprecedented losses in biodiversity, the need for stronger environmental policy has emerged as a conservation priority. Yet recovery planning for imperiled species remains a cumbersome, slow legislative process. In the present article, we examine features of recovery planning for species listed under Canada's Species at Risk Act to determine those influencing recovery planning duration. We found that the time to completion of recovery strategies increases with the number of jurisdictions concurrently listing the species, greater land tenure diversity, species population size, and road density. Species at risk in Canada with no listing status in the United States also suffered longer delays. To achieve a more efficient, timely, and defensible implementation of recovery planning, we recommend that governments prioritize recovery planning on the basis of risk level, promote transjurisdictional collaboration among listing agencies, anticipate and mitigate conservation challenges associated with multitenured and developed landscapes, and adopt procedures that enhance compliance with legislated timelines for recovery planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]