Sharing knowledge on cumulative effects for 6 Western Canadian regions
The Government of Canada created this page to increase public understanding of cumulative effects for terrestrial and freshwater environments in regions in Western Canada (British Columbia and Alberta).
The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment defines cumulative effects as "changes in the environment caused by multiple interactions among human activities and natural processes that accumulate across space and time." Human activities can include:
- transportation
- resource extraction (forestry, mining)
- urban development and/or
- other actions that influence the environment
Changes in the environment can also be a product of natural processes, which are events in the environment like wildfires or extreme weather that can leave a footprint and have impacts.
Understanding cumulative effects requires a joint, comprehensive, place-based and temporal approach in order to manage the economic, environmental and social impacts on the environment. The diversity of human activities combined with variations in natural environmental processes can present challenges for understanding, accurately predicting and managing cumulative effects.
The resources below are given to support Indigenous peoples, local communities and other interested parties in understanding cumulative effects and in carrying out their own studies related to cumulative effects.
Resources by region in Western Canada
Six regions of interest in British Columbia and Alberta have been identified through engagement with Indigenous groups participating in Government of Canada programs in Western Canada. The regions are based on watershed boundaries but have been further defined based on the specifics of these regional programs and provincial borders. The Government of Canada will continue to improve access to regional cumulative effects information as additional areas or regions of interest are identified.
To make it easier to find information specific to one region, data available on the Government of Canada's Open Science and Data Platform (OSDP) are compiled into curated content collections. Data in these collections have been selected based on relevance to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems in the 6 regions. The links below will redirect users to collections for the 6 regions on the OSDP and may assist users to better understand cumulative effects.
Six regions of interest in British Columbia and Alberta are defined based on hydrological, geographical, regulatory, and programmatic boundaries. These regions are the Upper Fraser watershed region, Lower Fraser-South Coast watershed region, Columbia watershed region, and Thompson-Fraser Canyon watershed region in British Columbia and the North and South Saskatchewan Rivers watershed region and Peace-Athabasca watershed region in Alberta.
General data sources and resources
Explore the following commonly requested links to discover data and information that is relevant to cumulative effects in British Columbia and Alberta.
General data sources
Ecosystem-wide resources
These links allow for key word searches to find relevant data.
Ecosystem drivers and pressures
The links below give information about large scale drivers of change such as climate change and population growth, as well as pressures from human activities.
Datasets relating to air
Air quality data covers specific trace gases and particles, and are used to report on the human health risks posed by these air pollutants.
Datasets relating to freshwater
Freshwater quality and quantity data include physical and chemical measures of water quality in rivers and lakes, and indicators of water quality such as its ability to support aquatic organisms. It can also reflect water levels and flows.
- Pacific Coastal Basin long-term freshwater quality monitoring data
- Fraser River long-term freshwater quality monitoring data
- Columbia River Basin long-term water quality monitoring data
- Okanagan Similkameen long-term water quality monitoring data
- Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) for freshwater ecosystems
- Pacific Coastal Basin freshwater surveillance
- Freshwater surveillance of mercury: Fish biological and chemical data
- Freshwater inventory and surveillance of mercury: Water quality data
- Freshwater inventory and surveillance of mercury: Sediment quality data
- Freshwater surveillance of pesticides
- Real-time hydrometric data
- Historical hydrometric data
- Historical sediment data
Datasets relating to species wellbeing and habitat
Western Canada boasts high species diversity and provides important habitat for species of cultural, commercial and ecological significance.
Publications
This section gives access to some written reports, peer-reviewed articles and more websites relevant to cumulative effects assessment, management and monitoring.
- Cumulative effects in the Federal Science Library (reports and peer-reviewed articles)
- Canadian environmental sustainability indicators
- Environmental reporting British Columbia
Tools
This section gives access to some tools to apply datasets and explain information toward cumulative effects assessment and management of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems.
- Open Science and Data Platform
- Environment and Climate Change Canada Hydrometric Data Explorer
- Calculators for the water quality index, sediment quality index and soil quality index
- British Columbia cumulative effects framework (English only)
- Land-water interaction models by United States Environmental Protection Agency
Other federal cumulative effects initiatives and efforts
This section gives access to relevant cumulative effects initiatives, programs, projects and efforts that are led or supported by the Government of Canada.
- Cumulative effects of marine shipping (Transport Canada)
- Addressing cumulative effects of natural resource development in Canada’s forests (Natural Resources Canada)
- Trans Mountain Expansion Project Indigenous Portal
- Terrestrial Cumulative Effects Initiative
- Cumulative effects in the Salish Sea ecosystem (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
- Aquatic Habitat Restoration Fund (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
- The Beaufort Sea Regional Strategic Environmental Assessment (Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Inuvialuit Game Council and Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada)
Contact Us
For questions or comments: ec.enviroinfo.ec@ec.gc.ca
Page details
- Date modified: