About CIELAP: Our Research Programs
CIELAP performs environmental research that is accurate, balanced, and evidence-based, and uses its findings to encourage laws, policies, and decisions in Canada that support the environment. You can find our publications and other materials in our Publication Centre.
About our Research
CIELAP conducts its research in four distinct areas:
Climate change is one of the most concerning issues facing society. While we must reduce our emissions, scientists have forecasted adverse impacts for years to come due to emissions that have already been released. It is crucial that we develop adaptation strategies to deal with future changes. A number of experts have suggested that, while climate change has been largely caused by energy consumption, its impacts will largely be felt through water.
CIELAP is conducting research on the water related impacts of climate change, specifically focusing on how water resources in Canada will be affected. We will investigate how land use and water management policy at the federal, provincial and municipal levels can be reformed to deal with the emerging realities of our changing climate. Our research will address issues such as water infrastructure and management, how to deal with the implications of greater water scarcity, and how to manage periods of increased rainfall and flooding.
Sustainability Strategies
CIELAP is currently conducting an analysis of how governments are incorporating the concepts of sustainable development into their operations. Since the mid 1990s, many federal departments and agencies have been required by law to create and implement sustainable development strategies. CIELAP is reviewing these strategies, in part by comparing them to notable sustainable development strategies created in other jurisdictions, in order to assess their effectiveness to date. Following from this review process, CIELAP will seek to provide recommendations to Canada’s federal government departments and agencies on how to they can revise their strategies to achieve meaningful and measurable outcomes for the future.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) refers to the practice whereby a producer understands and accounts for the environmental and social costs of a product throughout its entire lifecycle, from design to disposal. EPR is a complex issue that aims to balance the interests of the consumer, industry and the environment. CIELAP’s past research has provided valuable insights on issues related to EPR, including the management of hazardous waste generated by manufacturing and how to curb the proliferation of e-waste.
CIELAP will continue to focus its efforts on EPR in the future, both by communicating the importance of EPR to the public and industry, and by providing innovative recommendations as to how government policy can support the practice. In addition to considering EPR as a waste management issue, CIELAP will explore how EPR can reduce the need for primary resource extraction, support water quality and quantity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, help mitigate climate change, and support social and economic goals.
Land Use Conflict
Despite Canada’s extensive land mass, land use conflicts will become more commonplace as our population continues to grow. Conflicts will continue to emerge in both rural and urban areas as business and other interests overlap with the need to preserve shrinking greenspaces and significant ecological features.
CIELAP understands that the various stakeholder groups that make up Canadian society have varying perspectives on how land should be used and preserved. Our recently published research comparing Ontario’s Greenbelt Plan to international greenbelts has provided meaningful contributions to the debate on this often controversial policy. We plan to build on this success through research such as our current study on aggregate resource management and by expanding the scope of our research to the national scale. CIELAP’s work applies the sustainability lens to land use issues, with the intent of fostering solutions in a collaborative manner.
Conducting and Disseminating our Research
CIELAP has developed a Research Methodology which summarizes our approach to our research work, and which you can view here. CIELAP uses a variety of strategies to disseminate its research to policy makers, community leaders, and other interested groups and individuals. Our primary means of dissemination is through our Publication Centre, where all of our research is posted and can be downloaded for free.
Citizens' Guides
CIELAP's Citizens' Guides and other factsheets help the average citizen understand complex sustainability issues and how they can play a role.