Acknowledgements
Five Years from Rio: A Letter from the Chair of the Canadian Global Change Program
Global Change and Canada: A Time for Action
The Canadian Global Change Program
1996-1997 Program Highlights
The Future of the Canadian Global Change Program
Financial Statements: 1996-1997
 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Canadian Global Change Program's main activities are funded by

• the Green Plan (through Environment Canada).

• the Canadian Climate Program
• federal departments and agencies (including Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Canadian International Development Agency, Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, International Development Research Centre, and Natural Resources Canada)
• the Richard Ivey Foundation
• the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
• Ontario Hydro
• the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
• the Royal Canadian Geographical Society
• Queen's University
• the United States Environmental Protection Agency
• the Commission for Environmental Cooperation

We thank all these organizations and individuals for their commitment to enabling a better understanding of global environmental change.

FIVE YEARS FROM RIO:
A Letter from the Chair of the Canadian Global Change Program

The year 1997 marks the 5th anniversary of the Rio Declaration on environment and development — an appropriate time for nations to reflect on and renew their commitment to sustainable development and global change action.

On behalf of the Canadian Global Change Program (CGCP), I am pleased to present this report highlighting what the program has accomplished over the past year in support of the goals of Rio.

The CGCP has long been a responsible and credible voice for informed action on global change through sound advice and independent analysis. The initiatives noted in this annual report reflect a program that has grown and matured in recent years to become a trusted partner of governments, industry and others. The past year, for example, has seen the CGCP:

• launch important new collaborations on the links between global change and human health, and global change and human security
• explore how the issue of climate change can be better built into our existing planning and decision-making systems, such as through economic instruments and environmental assessment
• raise awareness of global change issues among key groups such as industry and parliamentarians
• publish — in clear, non-technical language — reports on global change research and how global change is affecting Canada
• bring Canadian global change researchers and funders together to help make Canada's research investments as effective as possible
• form special partnerships on global change with a range of international organizations and groups across Canada and in the United States, South America, and Europe.

My pride in these important achievements, however, is tempered by a sincere concern about the future of Canada's long term ability to understand and respond to global change in the face of funding cutbacks to Canadian global change research and organizations.

The shape of the CGCP must change, as we — and others — deal with the reductions in funding. We must become highly selective of new initiatives, seeking out where we have a unique contribution to make. We must also work out more innovative funding arrangements, including project-based funding from a range of sources.

As this report suggests, the challenges of global change are shifting from the purely scientific to embrace economic, technological, and social dimensions. I am convinced that the CGCP's strengths — its independence, credibility, interdisciplinary networks, and ability to forge partnerships — are exactly what is needed as Canada responds to these new challenges.

And respond we must, if we are to look back in five years' time — 10 years from Rio — with pride in our past efforts and confidence in our common future.

Dr. Hugh Morris
Chair, Canadian Global Change Program

GLOBAL CHANGE AND CANADA: A TIME FOR ACTION

Global change has now been on the international agenda for nearly one generation. Over the years, an unprecedented cooperative international scientific research effort has drawn the world's attention to the causes and consequences of gradual, pervasive changes in our atmosphere, oceans and ecosystems.

Many important scientific questions remain and must be answered. But the most critical global change challenge today may be more related to human nature than Nature: how to translate scientific knowledge, with all its uncertainties, into strong, clear commitments to action and results.

We can point to some modest results so far. Ten years ago, the Montreal Protocol on ozone depletion launched the first major international cooperative effort to act in the face of growing evidence of large-scale, human-caused changes to the global environment. More recently, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the International Convention on Biological Diversity have offered hope that international action can be forged in these two areas.

Within the next generation, however, much of this initial optimism may fade in the face of the difficult decisions and tradeoffs that must be made on climate change, biodiversity preservation, and the emerging human dimensions such as adaptation, human health, and human security.

Canada, with a quality of life based on its rich and vast natural environment, has long taken a leading international role in global change research and policy, and its contributions, until recently, have been commendable. For Canada, the ability to understand and respond to global change has a direct payoff in terms of economic and environmental health.

Can Canada maintain its capacity to address global change in the face of other domestic priorities and budget restraints?

If so, the task will demand:

• increased contributions to international global change science
• a strong, independent and credible analysis of policy options
• science-policy bridges and other broadly-based partnerships that include all segments of society; and
• public awareness of the issues and trust in the decision making institutions.

THE CANADIAN GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAM

The Canadian Global Change Program (CGCP), founded in 1985 under the Royal Society of Canada, is Canada's only non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting informed action through sound advice on global change.

CGCP acts as a catalyst to bring together researchers from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to assess the significance of research in a policy context, plan interdisciplinary research, and communicate global change information to decision makers and the general public in clear, concise language. As a national, bilingual organization, the CGCP has demonstrated its capacity for forging partnerships that cut across traditional boundaries, and for undertaking initiatives in all regions of Canada.

CGCP funding is provided by government agencies, foundations, the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

CGCP activities are guided by a volunteer board of directors of experienced scientists, decision makers and communicators drawn from all sectors of Canadian society. The board also operates through its executive, research/policy and communications/education committees. A seven-person secretariat, based in the Ottawa offices of the Royal Society of Canada, coordinates program activities.

1996-1997 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Over the past year, the CGCP has contributed to research, dialogue and action on global change in its three theme areas:

• research assessment and policy options;
• research planning and collaboration; and
• information management and communications.

RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AND POLICY OPTIONS

The CGCP coordinates state-of-the-art assessments of research results in areas of direct interest and importance to Canadians. These assessments, in the form of expert panels, research/policy forums and commissioned studies, identify information gaps and opportunities for Canadian contributions. In addition, the CGCP organizes workshops and conferences to help communicate the results of the assessments and promote a wider dialogue about policy options for significant issues.

Program highlights in this area in 1996-97 included:

• providing a review of the risks and benefits of a proactive Canadian greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy, in the program's submission to Canadian federal and provincial ministers of environment and energy
• co-sponsoring a North American collaboration involving business, academics and non-governmental organizations on the use of economic instruments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• launching a long-term collaboration among governments, researchers, business and public interest groups on human health and global change
• coordinating Canada's leadership role in developing a core international research project under the International Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme on global environmental change and human security
• preparing, in partnership with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Institute of Environmental Assessment in the UK, a guide on addressing climate change in environmental assessment processes
• publishing the final report of the research assessment panel on Canada's global change data and information systems
• participating, with the US National Academy of Sciences' Board on Sustainable Development, in a three-year effort exploring the "sustainability transition" — the social and technological transition to a sustainable global economy
• coordinating and co-sponsoring an interdisciplinary research assessment panel, whose final report will be released in fall 1997, to provide a review of the implications of global change for Canada's marine fisheries.

RESEARCH PLANNING AND COLLABORATION

Research planning and collaboration are critical tasks if Canada is to ensure efficient and effective use of its scarce research dollars. The CGCP promotes an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to global change research by helping build partnerships among research organizations and institutions, and by providing a forum for exchanging research information and determining research priorities. The CGCP also serves as the Canadian contact point for several major international research programs, promoting Canadian priorities and opportunities for Canadian researchers.

Program highlights in this area in 1996-97 included:

• distributing Understanding Our Changing Planet, the first comprehensive overview of global change research in Canada, including reviews of funding levels, research project highlights and emerging issues
• serving as the new Canadian National Committee for the International Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change Programme (IHDP), helping to coordinate the contributions of Canadian researchers into the international research effort
• establishing and serving on the Canadian National Committee for the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), which serves as a major international forum for science assessments and science-policy linkages related to global change
• serving as the Canadian National Committee for the International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), established more than 10 years ago to study the physical, chemical and biological processes that interact to regulate the planet's global environmental systems
• coordinating Canadian input into work of the International Group of Funding Agencies, which is assessing trends in international global change research funding needs and allocations
• bringing together Canadian global change researchers, funders and policy makers at a national forum to help build greater awareness of Canada's research priorities and to promote greater efficiency in our research investments.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Communicating research results and promoting awareness of global change issues cuts across all CGCP initiatives. The CGCP maintains a global change information resource centre, providing current data on global change activities and expertise worldwide. It also prepares communication products and services interpreting global change science to meet the information needs of policy makers, educators and other groups. All CGCP publications are published in English and French.

Program highlights in this area in 1996-97 included:

• preparing the Canada and the State of the Planet report, the first of its kind, which provides a watching brief on the planet's vital signs and analysis from a Canadian perspective. To be published in English by Oxford University Press and in French by Les Ιditions MultiMondes in May 1997

• organizing a forum for Canadian scientists and parliamentarians on climate change issues, featuring Canada's Minister of the Environment, the Honourable Sergio Marchi and Mr. Timothy Wirth, Under Secretary for Global Affairs in the US State Department
• publishing three issues of the program's newsletter, DELTA, which now has a readership of more than nine thousand
• preparing three issues of Changes — a series of science-policy information bulletins:
  • Looking Ahead: Long Term Ecosystem Research and Monitoring in Canada
  • Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Additional Benefits
  • Global Environmental Change and Human Security, to be published in May 1997
• strengthening the program's presence on the Internet, with an updated Web site that makes it one of the key sources for information on global change
• sharing publication space with other organizations to broaden awareness of program activities and networks, including serving as a regular contributor to the international environmental magazine ECODECISION and the newsletter of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
• organizing a workshop with Queen's University, designed for the business sector and held in Kingston, Ontario in October, 1996, which looked at issues related to biodiversity.

THE FUTURE OF THE CANADIAN GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAM

The CGCP is entering a challenging period of transition.

At the very time when the program is being sought out more and more as a trusted partner in collaborative global change science and policy initiatives, cutbacks in its primary source of funding are forcing the program to be highly selective of where and how it commits its resources.

Over the coming year, the CGCP will work hard to build on the success and momentum of recent years to ensure that Canada has a capacity for independent and credible analysis of global change research and policies. It will maintain a small, highly skilled professional secretariat. It will fulfill its current commitments, and will be highly selective of its involvement in new initiatives — focusing on how the CGCP can call on its strengths and experience to make a unique contribution.

A special challenge will be to build on the base level of funding provided by Environment Canada and others to secure project-based funding from other federal departments and agencies whose responsibilities include global change — from human health and human security issues to the operation of Canada's national committees on international research. The CGCP will also seek to reach out to foundations, industry and other organizations to form the kind of effective partnerships needed on climate change, biodiversity preservation and other global change challenges of critical importance to Canada.

Key initiatives for the year ahead include (please note that the first three initiatives have already taken place at the time of writing, and were very successful):

• organizing a special session on international environmental agreements and business at the June 1997 annual conference of the Air and Waste Management Association in Toronto
• launching Canada and the State of the Planet at a special press conference and reception, also at the Air and Waste Management Association conference in June 1997
• hosting a public forum in May 1997 as part of a Canada-U.S. symposium on the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin Project
• managing a colloquium on the lessons learned in both the natural and social sciences, and technology, since the signing of the Montreal Protocol. The colloquium will be held in Montreal on September 13, 1997, as part of a series of events marking the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Protocol.

• providing briefings on the issue of environment and human security to the President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and to staff in other federal departments
• publishing an expert panel report on global change and Canada's marine fisheries
• providing a series of regional briefing workshops on climate change in advance of the Conference of the Parties meeting on climate change in Kyoto in December 1997. The aim of the workshops is to give a wide range of decision makers as well as the media a clear and objective picture of climate change issues and how they are likely to affect Canada
• developing a proposal for a study of cross-border environmental futures as a follow-up to work done by the CGCP on the same topic for a G7-related forum on Environmental Futures held in April 1997
• coordinating Canadian input into preparation for the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and the Conference of Parties on the theme of freshwater biodiversity, and co-organizing a workshop on this theme for the Global Biodiversity Forum to be held in September 1997
• producing a state-of-the-art report on the human dimensions of global change and Canada.