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SPAC Watch
SPAC Watch Research - Canada
Accountability
• It does not possess an integrated NSSD, though 25 federal departments and agencies are required to prepare their own strategies for sustainable development. SPAC issues are covered in each of these strategies, though not in a coordinated manner.
• Environment Canada has usually been the lead with SPAC policy negotiations. However, their National Strategy for 2004 - 2006 contained virtually nothing at all about SPAC, except an enumeration of selected SPAC " WSSD commitments that Environment Canada will focus on over the coming years, through work within the department and in partnership with other federal government departments and other sectors of society." [i]
• Canada - National Office for Pollution Prevention - " The National Office of Pollution Prevention (NOPP) is Environment Canada's focal point for the management of toxic substances, implementation of federal pollution prevention policy and legislation, and the development of new concepts and policy instruments that facilitate the transition to pollution prevention in Canada." NOPP's " Sustainable Consumption Division applies a range of tools and approaches to promote pollution prevention and to reduce the environmental impacts and burdens associated with substances and products, and specifically with regard to the use and release of toxic substances."
• If Canada is to meet its international commitment arising from Agenda 21, the process of designing a sustainable consumption path will likely require coordinating existing activities, identifying constraints to developing the path and clearly stating what the path looks like. It then made a case for a Canadian Sustainable Consumption Strategy. The strategy would define the state of environment, human activity, consumption level and patterns desired. This strategy would be different from the national NSSD because 1. As it requires commitment and leadership from all Federal departments, the SC plan would need to be horizontally developed. 2. Stakeholders should be involved in planning the SC strategy 3. Need to develop indicators to a. measure changes that occur, and also to inform consumers about the relationship between consumption, our behaviour and the environment. [ii]
• Inspite of being the trailblazer in this field, having regular updates of the SD strategies and an inbuilt monitoring and assessment system ( the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development ), Canada is experiencing a gap between rhetoric and action. The reasons for this implementation gap are as follows:
• Conservative plans as a result of mandated SD audits
• Lack of sustained leadership from the Center
• Lack of coordination between actors and agencies leading to poor policy coherence
• More pressing issues have crowded SD out of the political agenda during the 1990s
• No accountability for departmental SDS beyond the "shame factor" brought by the CESD reports
The author goes on to state: "In the absence of clear national SD goals, the federal government's decentralised approach to SD focusing on departmental SDSs makes horizontal coordination particularly important. Central agencies have not assumed this role fully (nor have they been given specific responsibilities under a national SD strategy). This situation can have a far-reaching impact: for example, because Finance Canada does not innovate in the area of economic instruments for environmental protection, Canada as a whole does not and one of the most important approaches to implementing more sustainable forms of development is under-utilised ." [iii]
Responsibility
• Oxfam blamed entrenched attitudes of the US, Canada, Switzerland and the European Union for the failure to reach consensus on medicine prices at the trade ministers' meeting in Sydney. Oxfam said these countries continue to defend the profits of their pharmaceutical giants to the detriment of the right to health of the world's poorest people. [iv]
• Canada is opposing the inclusion of specific socio-economic and environmental criteria for forestry sinks projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The CDM allows developed countries greater flexibility in meeting their emission reduction commitments. The twin objectives of the CDM are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable development in developing countries. Canada's current negotiating position unfortunately undermines both objectives, threatening the credibility of the Clean Development Mechanism, the Kyoto Protocol and Canada's reputation [v]
• CIDA (the Canadian International development Agency) supports sustainable development in developing countries in order to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world. [vi]
Implementation
• The Sustainable Cities Initiative is a Canadian partnership initiative aimed at enhancing the sustainability of economic development in cities, and helping its citizens in improving their quality of life without compromising their future. [vii]
• "Canada is among the world's most wasteful nations in terms of excessive energy consumption, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. If every individual in the world consumed as much energy and resources and produced as much waste as the average Canadian then we would need four additional planets like Earth to produce the resources and absorb the waste." [viii]
• The green consumer program : "Energy and material consumption in Canada is typically four to five times the world average. We need to find ways of using natural resources that minimize depletion and reduce pollution. Government and industry action alone will not be enough - individual actions can make a difference. Although many small actions may not seem significant when viewed separately, their combined impact can be impressive." [ix]
• Envirozine - Environment Canada's online section that focuses on how to reduce our impact on this world. "You can reduce your impact on the environment in a variety of ways by choosing eco-friendly products; saving energy at home, work and school; composting and recycling. This section also covers human health issues, education, youth, and volunteer programs. The articles provide important lifestyle choices in order to help you maintain a healthy environment." [x]
• "There is very little government-initiated activity in Canada in response to Chapter 4 of Agenda 21. In fact, government activity is directed in the opposite direction: it is an unquestioned assumption of government and the private sector that consumer activity far in excess of material needs is essential to Canada's economic health." [xi]
• Connections: Canadian lifestyle choice and the environment [xii]
Endnotes
[i] Environment Canada's Sustainable Development Strategy 2004-06, < http://www.ec.gc.ca/sd-dd_consult/PDF/SDSfinal_e.pdf >
[ii] "Sustainable Consumption: Issues and challenges", Murray Trott, Ind Eco Strategic Consulting Inc, 1997, < http://indeco.com/Files.nsf/Lookup/sc/$file/sc.pdf >
[iii] "Governance and Sustainable Development", Francois Bergha, Stratos- Strategies to sustainability, 2002 < http://www.stratos-sts.com/sts_files/Governance%20and%20Sustainable%20Development,%20June%206,%202003.pdf >
[iv] "Developing countries refuse to back down on access to medicines", Oxfam, Nov 2002, < http://www.oxfam.ca/news/MakeTradeFair/WTO_Trade_Ministers'_Meeting.htm >
[v] "Canada's opposition to protecting developing country communities: The Case for Socio-Economic and Environmental Criteria for Sinks", David Suzuki Foundation < http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/Climate/Ontario/SocioEnviroRules.pdf >
[vi] About CIDA < http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/whatwedo.htm >
[vii] Sustainable cities Initiative < http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/inscin-idvd.nsf/en/Home >
[viii] "Sustainability within a generation: A new vision for Canada", David Suzuki Foundation, 2004, < http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/WOL/DSF-GG-En-Final.pdf >
[ix] < http://www.sdinfo.gc.ca/green_consumer/index_e.cfm >
[x] EnviroZine: Environment Canada's online newsmagazine < http://www.ec.gc.ca/EnviroZine/english/envaction_e.cfm >
[xi] "Changing consumption patterns", Elizabeth May, Canada and Agenda 21, 1995, < http://www.iisd.org/worldsd/canada/projet/c04.htm >
[xii] SOE Fact Sheet 95-1, < http://www.ec.gc.ca/soer-ree/English/products/factsheets/95-1.cfm >