What is our mission?

Promoting Informed Action Through Sound Advice On Global Change. Realizing this mission will require the best available scientific evidence, being explicit about relevant uncertainties, understanding the risks, presenting options in unambiguous terms, being timely with advice, and communicating strategically.

What is our vision?

We see Canada as part of a global society functioning sustainably so that future generations inherit a healthy and diverse environment. We also see Canada as an agent for positive change in global environmental issues. Central to our culture, values and ethics is the conviction that the CGCP works with partners to ensure that the best possible knowledge on global change can be transformed into options for policy decisions and should be communicated widely throughout society for better understanding and to encourage lifestyle changes that facilitate sustainability.

What will our business be?

Our business will focus on the following interrelated thrusts:

• Research Assessment and Policy Options Assessing outcomes of research in high impact areas to provide policy options for decision makers; Identifying knowledge gaps, filling them and developing opportunities for Canadians internationally; Providing state of the art reviews of Canadian research.

• Research Planning and Collaboration Integrating global change research; Enhancing Canada's role in international research programs; Creating mutually beneficial partnerships.

• Information Management Managing and brokering information on global change activities and expertise; Developing products and services tailored to needs; Maintaining a global change information resource centre.

What is our plan?

In the short term we will launch a more popular set of information products and services targeted at key decision makers and youth. CGCP will be seen as an independent, unbiased source of information on the difficult issues that must be addressed. In the medium term (3-5 years) we will expand our information centre and service role, providing regular assessments of issues and policy options. Funding sources will be diversified within government, business and foundations, mostly by fee for service. In the long term, (10-15 years) we seek to be the institution of first choice offering a window on global change issues, many of which will likely be quite troubling.

Global Environmental Trends

Human activity continues to accelerate climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, deforestation, air and water pollution, soil erosion, species extinction and loss of habitat. Consumption in the industrialized countries, stimulated by sophisticated marketing, is a major contributor to global change. The growing industrialization of countries such as China, India and other Asian countries, will add further stresses to the global environment in the coming decade. Breakup of the former Soviet Union, growing tensions over resources in these and many other States, and destruction of productive land in many highly populated areas has also brought environment and security issues to the forefront. Population pressure is another serious stressor on the environment. Even the most optimistic predictions are for about 8 billion people on the planet in 2050. Pessimistic predictions are for about 12 billion. The question is whether the planet has the capacity to absorb this population load.

However, despite the very serious nature of global change issues and their potentially disastrous impact on natural and human systems, they have not received the attention they should. The long term and potentially troubling nature of many of these changes, coupled with the scientific uncertainty surrounding them, mean that these issues are not easily dealt with by governments preoccupied with short term problems, quick results and good news.

The general acceptance of the concept of sustainable development and more recently the precautionary principle, has inspired some notable progress (e.g. Montreal Protocol, Framework Convention on Climate change). However the increased attention global change issues are receiving has, in a number of instances, led to questionable uses of scientific facts and confusion of the public and the policy makers. As a result, the need for organizations such as the CGCP that act as independent, credible sources of information will undoubtedly grow.

The CGCP is in an ideal situation to show leadership and act as an honest broker in coordinating efforts to interpret research results on global change for policy action. Given the increasing globalization of economies and communication systems, global environmental issues and their effects are reaching to all parts of the world. This visibility and understanding of global changes will grow in the coming years and as economies or cultures are affected, governments will be required to assess the risks that are involved and must be prepared to act on options to respond to these risks. As more organizations realize the importance of understanding global changes, they will move to reorient their programs and focus towards global change.

Global change is a vast subject. No one organization or agency can hope to cope with all the issues that require study and analysis. Increasing attention to global change issues will not only increase the need for coordination but will also increase competition for limited resources. The need therefore for sincere collaborative efforts is paramount. This also means that each organization must define and demonstrate what it does best if partnerships are to be successful.

Over the next five years, the CGCP will, therefore, promote partnership and develop its programs around a limited number of themes that impact to the greatest extent on the Canadian policy context, nationally and internationally. These programs will draw on the best available information, assessment and advice to guide the Canadian policy maker towards addressing the central issues of global change. This document outlines the directions that the CGCP will follow over the medium term by presenting a framework of objectives and priorities that will influence future work plans and products.

The CGCP in Context

The CGCP operates on the premise that forging closer linkages between research and policy on global change issues fosters better decision making towards a sustainable future. The following guiding principles relate to our vision and values:

• Relevance and Credibility The CGCP believes that its work must have relevance to a critical need and that to be credible, it must operate at arms length from its clients and bring together the best available expertise when providing advice. Operating under the auspices of the Royal Society of Canada provides this credibility.
• Integrated Perspective The CGCP believes that global change issues cannot be addressed in isolation. Integration of knowledge through interdisciplinary exploration is required to arrive at a balanced assessment of the issue.
• Partnership The CGCP believes that no institution has the means or capacity to address all the issues of global change. Collaboration is therefore necessary through strategic partnerships that blend the strengths of each partner.
• Comparative Advantage The CGCP believes that its comparative advantage is in being non-aligned, flexible, able to act quickly to marshall high quality task teams from its extensive networks, and committed to providing a balanced perspective on each issue. Guided by a Board of Directors with expertise in all aspects of global change issues and from a wide range of sectors, the CGCP focuses on those issues determined to be of highest impact and importance to its clients.

More recently, the approach has been to develop closer linkages between the researchers and the policy makers by focusing on studies that assess current research and develop policy options that make sense within the context of future sustainability. This approach was successfully demonstrated with the Panel on Canadian Options for Greenhouse Gas Reduction (COGGER) and will assume greater prominence in CGCP's second decade.

Towards the Next Decade

Realizing this mission will require the best available scientific evidence, being explicit about relevant uncertainties, understanding the risks, presenting options in unambiguous terms, being timely with advice, and communicating strategically. The long term goal is to be the key source of independent expertise on global change issues.

Objectives

• stimulating the development of research projects, as well as promoting integrated natural, social sciences and humanities research, and synthesizing the results for policy action;
• acting as a national focus for international programs, such as the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the Human Dimensions Programme (HDP), and fostering collaboration with global change activities in other countries;
• encouraging the involvement of public and private institutions with the national research effort, specifically by assisting in the formulation of effective policies focused on ameliorative and anticipatory action by providing timely information and options to government and industry;
• establishing a national information base of global change activities in Canada, both those which are exclusively national in character and those which are components of major international research projects and programs (e.g. IGBP, HDP and the World Climate Research Program [WCRP]);
• promoting awareness of the public, the educational community and research and policy sectors of the challenges and opportunities in all dimensions of global change.
• developing a national framework for global change research, involving representation from all appropriate research disciplines and organizations in Canada.

To achieve this mission the CGCP will adhere to the precautionary principle; be proactive; and promote sustainability.

Precautionary Principle: The precautionary principle became a key element of discussions on global change when it was introduced in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development which states: "Nations shall use the precautionary approach to protect the environment. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, scientific uncertainty shall not be used to postpone cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

Being Proactive: The CGCP believes that the very nature of global change issues demands a proactive approach. In many cases we cannot wait for definitive evidence before engaging in decisive actions. The CGCP will use its networks and skills to identify emerging issues in time to provide input to policy or to initiate policy relevant work.

Promoting Sustainable Development: Central to any long term solution of global change issues is the concept of sustainable development. Introduced to a large audience by the World Commission on Environment and Development, it has become a central element of the environmental discourse. However, any move to sustainability must have solid scientific underpinnings. Providing this is one of the CGCP's comparative advantages.
"Sustainable development" is used in this Strategy to mean: improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. (IUCN, UNEP, WWF, 1991, Caring for the Earth, p. 10.)

Clients and Beneficiaries

• Are important sources for or users of information on global change;
• Can direct and/or implement policies affecting global change in Canada and abroad;
• Can build awareness of the issues and shape the national and international policy and research debate on global change;
• Are funding sponsors of the Program.

1. Research community
2. Senior government policy makers
3. Bureaucrats and advisors to policy makers
4. Business community
5. Youth and Educators
6. Media
7. Funding agencies
8. Non-governmental organizations

Strategic Shifts

Research Assessment and Policy Options:

• Assessing research results in areas of potentially high impact to our clients and providing policy options for decision making
• Identifying gaps in knowledge in Canada and developing opportunities for Canadian involvement internationally
• Providing state of the art reviews of the Canadian research effort
• Following the evolution of policy related to global change
• Facilitating a dialogue between the policy and research communities

Research Planning and Collaboration:

• Facilitating integrated approaches to global change related research
• Enhancing the role of Canadian National Committee to IGBP and HDP
• Creating mutually beneficial partner-ships with relevant organizations and institutions
• Providing a forum for exchange of research information

Information Management:

• Maintaining up to date knowledge on global change expertise and activities
• Providing information products and services tailored to user needs
• Acting as an information broker on global change
• Maintaining an information resource centre on global change
• Facilitating information exchange between partners

The CGCP Program has previously identified several points of focus that provide important links between national priorities, international activities and global change issues. These are: climate change; ozone layer; air pollution; water quality and quantity; forests and soils; food supplies; carrying capacity; biodiversity and extinctions; population increase; energy and resource consumption; hazardous wastes.

Clearly, the CGCP cannot work on all areas at once. Some areas or issues will be of greater urgency than others to clients and beneficiaries. Also, a balance needs to be kept between national and international interests. The nature of the tasks increasingly warrant collaborative efforts. The CGCP will therefore need to address four strategic issues in executing its program priorities: Program Choices; Mutual Interest; National and International Emphasis; and Inter-Institutional Relations.

• Program Choices: Because of resource constraints and the need to increase the probability of impact, criteria have been determined to develop priorities. These are based on: potential for impact; relation to landmark conventions/protocols; value to policy makers; filling gaps in knowledge; potential for partnership/co-funding; relation to post UNCED priorities in the Canadian context.
• Mutual Interest: There is considerable potential both in Canada and elsewhere for increased activity between the CGCP and partners that have mutual interests. Government departments in Canada are reducing their in-house capacity and other Canadian organizations in the private and non-profit sectors have need of CGCP's access to expertise and corporate knowledge. Development agencies such as CIDA could use CGCP's knowledge and access to Canadian expertise to help developing countries build capacity to cope with global changes. These and other opportunities will be actively explored by the CGCP.
• National and International Emphasis: A balance will have to be made between priorities that are dictated by major international global change programs and the priorities dictated by the Canadian decision makers' need for policy options to deal with specific national priorities.
• Inter-Institutional Relations: As CGCP expands its collaborative efforts to other Canadian institutions and to institutions elsewhere, there will be an increasing need for integration of information and efficiency of communications. Strategic alliances, networks and other inter-institutional or organizational arrangements will help forge the mutuality of benefits to be expected from such efforts and allow CGCP to focus on what it does best. CGCP's roles in such arrangements will relate to its comparative advantages in relation to the other partners.

Implementation Mechanisms

Planning

Monitoring and Evaluation

Therefore, the CGCP intends to embody performance measurement concepts into its strategy. The nature of the research into global change does not, however, lend itself easily to conventional forms of measurement. Ultimately, it is expected the CGCP work will contribute to improved living conditions, equity and sustainability of resources. But the long-term and intangible nature of some global change issues and the complex international nature of the solutions makes any form of performance indicators difficult to measure and interpret in a manner that will verify the running of an effective program. Therefore, the CGCP believes that measures of its success should be based on attainment of specific elements in its objectives and work plans.

Evaluation Mechanisms

• reports to the Board by annual internal review;
• performance evaluation of staff;
• external program evaluations; and
• peer assessments.

Future Operational Considerations