Canada–Chile Commission for Environmental Cooperation 2012 to 2013 annual report: chapter 4

Country Progress Reports

• Canada Report
• Chile Report

Under the Agreement, each Party is required to report on the actions it has taken in connection with the obligations set out under Part 2 of the Agreement (see Annex II for a summary of Articles 2 through 7), including data on each Party’s environmental enforcement activities. The following chapters present Canada and Chile’s reports; for more detailed information on each country’s activities, please contact the relevant National Secretariat (for Canada: environinfo@ec.gc.ca / for Chile: jgarcia@mma.gob.cl and jrecordon@mma.gob.cl).

Canada Report

The following section outlines Canada’s major environment activities and notable successes of 2012 in support of the obligations articulated in the Agreement.

Strategic Initiatives

Environment Canada is the lead department responsible for implementing the Government of Canada’s environmental agenda. In collaboration with partners at home and abroad, the Department strives to realize concrete progress on initiatives that will protect the health of our people and our planet. Key responsibilities include protecting the environment, conserving the country’s natural heritage, and providing weather and meteorological information to keep Canadians informed and safe.  This requires sound science, effective regulations and legislation, successful partnerships, and high-quality service delivery to Canadians.

Environment Canada identified four organizational priorities for 2012-2013:

1. A clean environment: Manage substances and waste, and reduce pollution that directly or indirectly harms human health or the environment.
2. A safe environment: Provide Canadians with relevant information on immediate and long-term environmental conditions.
3. A sustainable environment: Ensure that land, water and biodiversity are sustained.
4. Enable transition and alignment of activities and resources.

Funding and Land Conservation Initiatives

In its commitment to environmental conservation and protection, including support of NGOs and communities, the Government of Canada announced the following initiatives in 2012:

Funding Initiatives

Canada invested in a number of key initiatives to support climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries. The investment is part of Canada’s fast-start financing commitment under the Copenhagen Accord to provide $1.2 billion CAD / $557.6 billion CLP[1] in new and additional financing to support climate change action in developing countries.

The Government of Canada announced a second phase of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, which earmarks $1 billion CAD /$464.7 billion CLP[2] over three years (from 2012 through to 2014) for remediation activities at approximately 1 100 contaminated sites, as well as the assessment of about 1 650 sites. The funding

also supports skills development, training and employment of Canadians, including Aboriginal communities and others who live in northern and rural areas.

Canada invested $16 million CAD / $7.435 billion CLP[3] in the Great Lakes Nutrient Initiative. The investment will be over four years, and will assist in addressing the complex problems of recurrent toxic and nuisance algae, and near shore water quality and ecosystem health in the Great Lakes.

Land Conservation Initiatives

The Government of Canada and Nature Conservancy of Canada joined together to protect fragile habitat in areas within New Brunswick, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. The Government of Canada’s $225 million CAD / $104.6 billion CLP[4] Natural Areas Conservation Program aims to preserve Canada’s environment and conserve natural heritage for present and future generations. 

An announcement was made in 2012 that the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve will be expanded with new protected lands on Pender, Saturna and Prevost islands.

Canada has established a new national park, Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve, in the Northwest Territories. This park will ensure the protection of the South Nahanni River, one of the planet’s great wilderness rivers.

New funding was announced for the establishment of Rouge National Urban Park with over $140 million CAD / $65.1 billion CLP[5] over the next 10 years and over $7.5 million CAD / $3.5 billion CLP[6] ongoing to develop a park in the Greater Toronto Area. 

State of Environment

The Government of Canada along with the Government of Alberta took a major step forward in their partnership to improve environmental monitoring in the oil sands region. The Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring commits to a scientifically rigorous, comprehensive, integrated and transparent environmental monitoring program for the region. It outlines the path forward to enhance the monitoring of water, air, land and biodiversity in the oil sands by demonstrating how more sites will be tested for more substances more frequently. The program is designed to provide an improved understanding of the long-term cumulative effects of oil sands development.

In 2012, Canada announced that it is halfway towards meeting its commitment to reducing GHG emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020. Stringent regulations were developed and implemented to reduce GHG emissions in the electricity and transportation sectors.  The Government of Canada reported that per capita GHG emissions are at an historic low. The latest data indicates that Canadians emitted an average of 20.3 tonnes per capita of GHG in 2010, the lowest level since tracking began in 1990.

Legal and Policy Developments

GHG Emissions Reductions

In November 2012, Canada released proposed regulations limiting emissions from passenger vehicles and light trucks model years 2017 and beyond, building on the final regulations for model years 2011-2016. As a result of the regulations, it is projected that the average GHG emissions from model year 2025 vehicles will be reduced by about 50% from those sold in 2008. With regard to heavy-duty vehicles, the government initiated proposed regulations limiting emissions from 2018 model year vehicles by up to 23% from those sold in 2010. 

In cooperation with the aviation industry, the Government of Canada developed an Action Plan aimed at reducing aviation emissions and increasing fuel efficiency. 

Canada also announced final regulations to reduce GHG emissions from coal-fired electricity generation. The regulations apply a stringent performance standard to new electricity generation units and old units that have reached the end of their economic life. In the first 21 years, the regulations are expected to result in a cumulative reduction in GHG emissions of about 214 megatonnes: equivalent to removing some 2.6 million personal vehicles per year from the road. The new performance standard for coal-fired electricity generating units will come into force on July 1, 2015.

In terms of international cooperation, in February 2012, Canada joined the U.S., four other countries and the United Nations Environment Programme to launch the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants, aimed at rapidly improving air quality and combatting climate change. The Coalition has grown fast and now includes 26 countries (including Chile), 23 non-state partners and the European Commission. 

Species at Risk

In 2012, Canada released the final Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou, Boreal population (boreal caribou). The recovery strategy focuses on achieving self-sustaining local populations in all boreal caribou ranges throughout Canada. The recovery strategy follows engagement with the public, Aboriginal communities, government, industry stakeholders, environmental NGOs and academia across Canada.

Environmental Assessment

Canada’s environmental assessment legislation was updated in 2012 to ensure a modern approach that responds to Canada’s current economic and environmental context (Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012).  The resulting changes will help to provide greater certainty for industry at the same time as increasing penalties in order to ensure compliance.  There will also be additional efforts to ensure accountability and transparency from industry by conducting a review of industry reporting through the National Pollutant Release Inventory.  New enforceable environmental assessment decision statements will ensure that proponents of resource and other economic projects comply with required mitigation measures to protect the environment, and companies that violate Canada’s environmental laws can now face new financial penalties.

Fisheries

In 2012, the Government of Canada committed to responsible protection and conservation of Canada’s fisheries and introduced changes to the Fisheries Act that will ensure the fisheries are productive and sustainable for future generations.                                                                                                                                      

Health

In 2012, Canada introduced proposed regulations to protect children from harmful chemical and continue to take action on harmful chemicals, especially those found in products that are used by children. 

The Government of Canada announced new regulations for food additives and improving food safety.

The Government of Canada implemented new Wastewater System Effluent Regulations aimed at reducing the levels of harmful substances deposited to surface water from wastewater systems in Canada.

Government Enforcement

In 2012, Environment Canada officials launched the following initiatives to promote environmental enforcement in Canada and internationally:

• Environment Canada wildlife enforcement officers conducted a coordinated series of interprovincial and international border inspections in the summer of 2012 to look for evidence of illegal hunting of black bear and other species. The operation took place in 29 locations throughout Canada. Over 700 hunters and 125 fishermen were inspected while travelling between provinces or leaving the country. The inspections resulted in 79 infractions. The operation was coordinated with provincial government departments responsible for wildlife enforcement, Canada Border Services Agency, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the United States Customs and Border Protection.
• Environment Canada signed a new agreement with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to assist with capacity building of wildlife law enforcement around the world. Under the agreement, Environment Canada is sharing customized wildlife officer training courses with INTERPOL on the illegal trade in endangered species with a focus on Africa.

Details on all enforcement actions (including information on successful prosecutions of environmental offences) can be found here.

Chile Report

This section outlines Chile’s commitments and responsibilities fulfilled during 2012 under the Canada-Chile Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.

Strategic Initiatives

The Ministry of Environment has proposed as its vision “to achieve sustainable development in the country in order to improve their inhabitants’ quality of life, for current and future generations.” Its mission is “to lead sustainable development through the creation of efficient public policies and regulations, promoting good practices and improving environmental education among citizens”.

These two elements are focused in four thematic lines:

1. Biodiversity
2. Air quality
3. Resource and waste management
4. Recovery of environmental liabilities

And the following cross-cutting priorities:

1. Environmental education
2. Environmental statistics and information
3. Development of economic instruments and regulation

In 2010, the environmental institutions of the country were redesigned with the creation of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), the Council of Ministers for Sustainability, the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) and the Superintendence of the Environment (Enforcement Service; SMA). This redesign was complemented with the enactment, in June 2012, of the Law N° 20.600, which created the Environmental Courts and, in the future, the Service for Biodiversity and Protected Areas, whose bill of law is currently in Congress. The new environmental institutions respond to two concerns that have been priorities for the government: to raise the importance of environmental matters within the national administration and to coordinate and clearly delineate the government’s responsibilities in the different subjects related to sustainable development.

In particular, Chile is promoting a regional initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean aimed at promoting public participation and access. The importance of access to information, participation and environmental justice on environmental subjects were evident in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) with the adoption of Principle 10.   This principle recognizes that the best way to address environmental issues is through these rights.

Twenty years later, considering the challenges and advances in the area, Chile led a declaration to reinforce these rights in Latin America and the Caribbean in the Summit “Rio+20.”  Thus, 10 countries signed the Declaration on the Implementation of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, initiating thus a process of cooperation for the comprehensive implementation of the rights of access. As of November 2013, 17 countries have signed the declaration.  The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean acts as technical secretariat and a board of directors, chaired by Chile, has been established.

Funding and Land Conservation Initiatives

Funding

In the field of environmental dducation, the Environmental Protection Fund remains in operation. This initiative provides financing of environmental projects at the local level. In 2012 the program increased the number of funded projects by 36%, reaching 224 initiatives with CLP $ 1.274 billion (CAD $ 2.742 million[7]) in total contributions. The local environmental management program with municipalities reached 82 members with 52 new ones in 2012, allowing for a comprehensive Environmental Management System. Finally, the National Environmental Certification Program for schools has certified 876 educational institutions, benefiting more than 100 000 children in pre-school, elementary and high school levels.

Ecosystem Protection

Throughout 2012, continuous and ongoing efforts have been made to improve the representativeness of protected areas and other conservation tools, to ensure that sub-represented ecosystems are protected. In this sense, there have been advances in the declaration of new “Santuarios de la Naturaleza” (Wilderness Sanctuaries) and in the information gathering and analysis for the creation of new additional areas in ecosystems identified as of High Value for Conservation.

For instance, Decree N°18/2012 created the Sanctuary “Calabacillo de Navidad” (cocoa pods) Forest (www.mma.gob.cl/1304/articles-51182_acuerdo2_2012.pdf). Decree N° 45/2012 established the Sanctuary “Campo Dunar de Concón” (Concon Sand Dune Field) (www.mma.gob.cl/1304/articles-51182_acuerdo31_2012.pdf). In addition, basic information on Priority Sites identified by the National Strategy for Biodiversity is being revised in order to validate and confirm it fits criteria of “high value conservation areas.” On October 4, 2012, the Council of Ministers for Sustainability approved the expansion of the “Alerce^[8] Costero National Park” (www.mma.gob.cl/1304/articles-51182_acuerdo26_2012.pdf).

As stated in Law N° 20,417, the country must have a database for biodiversity, provided by the MMA. The database comprises a national inventory of current ecosystem conservation and biodiversity projects, with the medium-term goal of providing a record of all the ecosystems in Chile, their features and main components as well as their current environmental condition and an analysis of the conservation needs, in the medium term. Under the same context, work is in progress to establish a National Register of Areas with High Value for Conservation purposes, aimed at disseminating information to the public about these areas and specific protected areas, and to track administration and conservation management.

Coastal and marine initiatives include assessment of protection projects across continental and island territories and the development of the Strategy for Marine Conservation (in the context of the National Biodiversity Policy update). The Strategy includes the definition of a mechanism to recognize high-value areas for conservation in the marine environment and the creation of an information system for coastal and marine biodiversity.

State of Environment

The amendment of the Environmental Law in 2010 established the right to access environmental information, complementing the right to access public information, according to law N° 20,285 (2008). The MMA must regularly publish a Report of the State of the Environment at four-year intervals, including national, regional and local level data; and, annually, a consolidated report on environmental statistics, at national and regional levels, which must be made publicly available. (SINIA; www.sinia.cl/1292/w3-channel.html; administered by the MMA).

According to this legal framework, in 2012, the MMA issued the “Report of the State of the Environment, 2011” (www.mma.gob.cl/1304/w3-article-52016.html), which presents the situation of the main environmental components at national level, through statistics and indicators, structured on the “pressure, state, response” model.

One of the improvements for the national Information System was the development of the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR).  The 5^th report published in 2012 closes the development phase and presents an overview of the first two years of data in its final report.

With respect to this Register, in 2012 an English version of the portal was prepared, to broaden public access to this system.  This same year saw the conclusion of the development of the Regulation for the PRTR that will provide a unique, publicly accessible platform, integrating relevant information to prepare public policies and regulations on environmental matters, as well as to publicize information of relevance to citizens. The regulation on the development of the PRTR was approved by decree N° 1/2013 of the MMA and published in the Official Gazette on May 2, 2013.

Legal and Policy Developments

Environmental Courts

In June 2012, a law was enacted to create the Environmental Courts, which are jurisdictional bodies for the resolution of environmental disputes. These include: claims against decrees establishing environmental quality or emission standards, or declaring an area of territory as latent (80% of the standard reached) or in a status of non-attainment; decrees approving plans for pollution prevention or decontamination; demands for compensation of environmental damage; and complaints against resolutions taken by the Superintendence of the Environment, among others.

Moreover, people who consider they have been affected in their rights to live in a pollution-free environment may use the High Courts of Justice to obtain the restoration of the rule of law and ensure due protection.

Environmental Impact Assessment

The process of developing the regulatory proposal for the new Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) Regulation was concluded in 2012.  Main activities were focused on the completion of indigenous consultation processes regarding the text and inter-ministerial work.  In May 28, 2012, the regulatory proposal was approved by the Council of Ministers for Sustainability by agreement N° 8.  Afterwards, the proposal for the Regulatory System of Environmental Impact Assessment was received by the General Comptroller of the Republic on January 10, 2013, to begin the national registry process.  The regulation was recorded in the register on August 6, 2013, and published in the Official Gazette in August 12, 2013.  

The development of guides has continued in order to reduce uncertainty about environmental requirements and to standardize criteria, conditions, licenses, procedures, technical requirements and environmental procedures established by ministries and other competent State Agencies.  Five guides were issued in 2011, including design, layout, printing and distribution of printed copies and subsequent publication on the website.  In 2012, 5 additional guides were designed and published while another 4 guides were in the process of validation or design/drafting in order to be published.

A geographic information system containing the location of all Environmental Impact Studies and the description of the projects’ baselines submitted through e-SEIA has been developed and implemented in the Area of the Electronic Environmental Assessment System Administration, e-SEIA.  A set of improvements to the Electronic SEIA has been performed, including an application that facilitates filing accurate geographical locations of projects in e-SEIA. This geographic application allows SEIA evaluators to visualize different types of information with environmental interest.

Finally, the National Plan of SEIA Document Management was initiated, whose aim is the digitization and transfer of the historical documentation of SEIA to the National Archives as well as to constitute the institutional digital repository.

www.sea.gob.cl/

Strategic Environmental Assessment

The MMA has continued working on the development of the Regulation on Strategic Environmental Assessment, to incorporate this procedure in order to consider environmental variables in the development of policies and plans, in addition to territorial planning instruments. The text of the Regulation received a favourable pronouncement by the Council of Ministers for Sustainability, dated March 14, 2013.

New Regulations

The regulations for the enactment of plans for pollution prevention and decontamination (Decree N° 039 of October 30, 2012) and the enactment of environmental quality and emission standards (Decree N° 38 of October 30, 2012) were issued in 2012.  In both, conditions were established to improve citizen participation in these processes.

In terms of air pollution, the new quality standard for particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM_2.5) entered into force on January 1, 2012.   The improvement of air quality monitoring at the national level and the community access to this information have been proposed for its implementation.  Currently, a measurement network for PM_2.5 is being implemented in all cities of over 100 000 inhabitants (25 in total) with expected completion in December 2013. This information is available online. With the entry into force of the new PM_2.5 standard, advancements are expected in the declaration of non-attainment zones of PM_2.5 in the cities of Santiago, Rancagua, Curicó, Talca, Chillán, Los Ángeles, Concepción Metropolitano, Temuco, Osorno and Coihaique. 

Complementing this, a cooperative project with the Quebec Ministry of Environment allowed for the certification of the air quality monitoring network in the Metropolitan Region, MACAM, under the ISO/EIC 17025 standard. The project was carried out under the cooperation framework established by a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two institutions, in May 2012.   The project will enable MACAM to set up a model network for the rest of the national networks with the purpose of advancing the certification thereof.

In terms of contaminated sites, Law N° 20 590 was enacted in 2012 and establishes an Intervention Program in Areas with Presence of Poly-metals in the city of Arica.  Its articles state that the MMA shall identify zones with a presence of poly-metals and shall conduct studies to assess environmental risk through compliance of criteria and procedures established by a regulation made for this purpose.  This regulation establishes that the soil sampling will be conducted through the application of Methodological Standardized Guides of Sampling and Chemical Analysis for Background Levels and for Investigations to Confirm Chemical Contaminants and Risk Assessment in Contaminated Sites through the application of the Methodological Guide for the Management of Sites with the Potential Presence of Contaminants.

Government Enforcement

In 2012, the Superintendence of the Environment (SMA) defined its environmental enforcement strategy considering strategic areas for targeting its operations. This strategy results from the powers given by law to enforce specific environmental management tools. These tools include: resolutions of environmental qualifications (RCA), environmental emission and quality standards, environmental prevention and decontamination plans, and management plans, among others.  The environmental enforcement strategy developed by the SMA has been implemented in programs and subprograms of environmental compliance, which is one of the fundamental pillars for the proper accomplishment of the functions and responsibilities that the Act has instructed, prior to full entry into force of its powers and functions.

During 2012, centralization in the planning of environmental enforcement was performed for the first time in Chile’s history as well as the first standardized analysis of budgetary resources allocated nationwide on this matter.

The prioritization of enforcement was conducted on the basis of strategic focus set by the SMA to exercise its supervisory authority, together with the technical knowledge and capacity possessed by different line agencies with environmental competence that apply specific enforcement responsibilities in the frame of the subprograms.  Similarly, with a view to adhere to the legal rights protected by the actions of the SMA, the criteria associated with environmental risks were defined to guide prioritization of projects that have been approved by the SEIA.

In the scope of its authority to establish and apply sanctions, the SMA worked on defining a policy of environmental compliance and penalties, as well as developing a model for determining sanctions, in order to ensure they are fair, consistent and proportionate to the nature and entity of the environmental non-compliances.  This model was developed in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States.

In order to contribute to the rigorous and objective application of procedures, the SMA developed a Guideline of Sanctioning Procedures, which provides a systematized text that compiles the rules applicable to punitive administrative process, easily accessible by MMA staff and providing tools that facilitate their work.

In the field of information systems, an environmental enforcement system was designed and developed. The system allows the management of environmental inspection activities carried out by officials of the SMA and the sub-programmed services. The design and development of the monitoring system was also finalized, providing holders of RCA projects with an electronic tool for inputting background information associated with monitoring and tracking.

The Environmental Control Information System was designed and implemented in accordance with the provisions of Article 31 of the Organic Law of the SMA, which aims to make the most relevant information concerning the functions of the SMA publicly available. Also, the SMA stipulated a mandatory requirement for RCA holders to provide certain information public, by completing an electronic form for the efficient delivery of background information, as part of the broader commitment to make the Public Registry of RCA easily available and accessible to citizens, as referred to in Article 25-4 of the Law N° 19 300.

In order to facilitate and assist in the monitoring of Pollution Prevention and/or Decontamination Plans, the SMA has systematized and consolidated the contents of 10 plans in operation in a centralized database, where obligations are detailed for both public and private entities.

[1] Based on March 31, 2013, exchange rates (1 CAD = 464.684 CLP).

[2] Idem.

[3] Based on March 31, 2013, exchange rates (1 CAD = 464.684 CLP).

[4] Idem.

[5] Idem.

[6] Idem.

[7] Based on March 31, 2013, exchange rates (1 CAD = 464.684 CLP).

[8] Fitzroya cupressoides, Chilean redwood.