2.3 Our Municipal Role Municipalities in Canada are fortunate to have a history of sharing their experiences and information amongst themselves and through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Many guides, best practices and approaches have evolved amongst organizations in recent years to guide organizations and governments in working towards achievement of sustainable and effective environmental management practices. This means that the City has a wealth of knowledge to draw upon in addition to its own experiences and expertise. Through the process proposed by the Environmental Strategy, the City of Ottawa will be continuing to contribute to this network of knowledge, learning from and building upon it to help the progress of other organizations in Canada. Some examples of best practices and guides include:
In preparing this Environmental Strategy, staff researched best practices for environmental management within other jurisdictions. A summary of the findings is presented in Annex 1 as Summary of Environmental Management Best Practices - 2003, organized by key environmental issues. We consume large quantities of resources in Ottawa, at a level that is consistent with national consumption levels. Canadians as a whole consume large amounts of resources, resulting in an ecological footprint2 that would take three to five planets to support3, if people throughout the world consumed at our average rate. Examples of local consumption include 124,000 litres of water annually for the average resident in Ottawa and an average household production of 10.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 920 kilograms of solid waste (garbage, recycled products and leaf and yard materials) per year. Our city's air quality is good, but Ottawa, like other cities, is seeing an increase in the number of annual smog days. The industrial makeup of our City is unique when compared to other large Canadian cities. The city supports more service-oriented than manufacturing industries. This means that the individual actions each of us takes can have a larger overall impact on the city's health. However, we must still count ourselves responsible for the industrial emissions that occur in other cities as a result of the products that we demand. We must also remember that our impact extends beyond our boundaries. For example, materials that we discharge to our water and our air flow beyond the city limits. In addition, much of the food we consume and many of the products that we buy come from other places. We share responsibility for the impacts resulting from the production and transportation of these products. Annex 2 provides a summary of environmental issues at both the national and local level and the interest and concerns expressed by our community through Ottawa 20/20 consultation. In reviewing this summary, the role In reviewing this summary, the role of the City of Ottawa in managing these issues becomes evident. As the Nation's Capital, Ottawa's obligation to follow national commitments, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the 2002 Earth Summit, and to demonstrate environmental leadership locally, nationally and globally, is particularly prominent. At a more local level, the community, both within and beyond the city's boundaries, has come to expect it. Also evident is the considerable range of environmental issues within Ottawa - from greenspace quality and quantity, species health and biodiversity to water, soil and air quality management - as well as the range of services we provide. The City of Ottawa provides waste and wastewater collection and provision of drinking water, recreational, social, health, emergency and protective services daily to a community of 800,000 residents. The City also owns and manages a significant number of properties and facilities, including 5200 kilometres of roads, 37 kilometres of Transitway, 200,000 right-of-way trees, and 825 parks covering 3220 hectares. Through the management of environmental issues and delivery of services, the municipal level of government provides the greatest opportunity for interaction with the community at large, thus positioning municipalities to demonstrate sound environmental management practices through balancing and promoting environmental initiatives and impacts with our social and economic considerations and needs. What is key is that the City should not, or cannot, accomplish a sustainable community through its own actions. It is the community - individuals, industries, businesses, government agencies, non-government and not-for-profit agencies and community groups - that can make the greatest changes in our environment. It is therefore the role of the City as a Corporation to tap into best practices established by other organizations and to continue to coordinate its efforts with these organizations. The City can then begin to demonstrate those practices most appropriate to the community. From there, it falls upon the community to follow this example, with support and reinforcement from City policies, programs and initiatives. Annex 3 provides an overview of respective environmental roles to help establish clear roles of responsibility and to identify the coordination and partnership opportunities in implementing sustainability initiatives within the City. 2 The Ecological Footprint is a method developed to determine the
amount of productive land required to support our lifestyle. It takes into account
energy and resource requirement related to factors such as style of residence,
transportation habits, frequency of purchases, home heating system. |
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