Document de travail sur les perspectives canadiennes en matière d’environnement

This research paper, written by Dale S. Rothman of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) for Environment Canada, serves as a conceptual document for the development of the Canadian Environmental Outlook (CEO). It defines the CEO as an integrated environmental assessment designed to provide a forward-looking analysis of the interactions between society and the environment to support strategic decision-making and policy formulation in Canada.

• The Canadian Environmental Outlook (CEO) is conceived as an integrated environmental assessment that differs from traditional state-of-the-environment reports by focusing on future trends and the long-term impacts of current strategic choices. It aims to answer five key questions: what is happening and why, the consequences for environment and humanity, the effectiveness of current measures, where the system is heading, and what measures can ensure a sustainable future.
• Stakeholders identified seven primary areas where the CEO process could provide value: increasing participation across sectors and government levels, harmonizing environmental issues and priorities between provinces and territories, enhancing the credibility of information for media and research, strengthening capacity for environmental assessment, improving the interoperability and integration of data, strengthening Canada's contributions to international initiatives, and guiding a national sustainable development strategy.
• The proposed temporal scope for the CEO emphasizes a prospective approach. While horizons vary by issue—with local air quality requiring a 10-year view and climate change requiring a view up to 2100—a compromise horizon of 20 to 30 years is recommended to allow for policy implementation and corporate capital rotation without encouraging procrastination.
• The CEO is intended to operate across multiple geographic scales to address the diversity of environmental issues. National scales are necessary for climate change mitigation, sub-national scales for sea ice, and local scales for smog and water quality. The document suggests creating synergies with existing provincial initiatives in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec.
• The document recommends a governance structure that promotes shared ownership among federal, provincial, and territorial governments, NGOs, Indigenous groups, and academia. To ensure neutrality and trust, it suggests establishing a secretariat outside of government, potentially within an academic institution such as the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, or the IISD.
• Estimated resource requirements for a national outlook project, based on international examples from the Netherlands and UNEP, suggest a timeline of 18 to 24 months and a budget of approximately 800,000 to 1,000,000 USD (excluding modeling). Personnel needs include a core team of 6 to 12 experts and a broader network of 80 to 100 contributing experts.
• The document identifies several existing modeling tools within Environment Canada that could support the CEO, including Informétrica (macroeconomic), Énergie 2020 (multiregional energy), MEQA (air quality), ReFSoRT (source-receptor air quality), ÉcoTec (interprovincial input-output), WUAM (water use), and various community environmental models for surface water and hydrology.

APA

Rothman, D. S. (2007). Document de travail sur les perspectives canadiennes en matière d’environnement. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/env_outlook_discussion_fr.pdf

Chicago

Rothman, Dale S. Document de travail sur les perspectives canadiennes en matière d’environnement. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2007. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/env_outlook_discussion_fr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rothman |first1=Dale S. |title=Document de travail sur les perspectives canadiennes en matière d’environnement |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2007 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/env_outlook_discussion_fr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rothman2007document, author = {Rothman, Dale S.}, title = {{Document de travail sur les perspectives canadiennes en matière d’environnement}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2007}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/env_outlook_discussion_fr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }