2013
Arts and Culture
Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
WW1 Web Module Enhancement Project
The First World War section of the Museum's website will be greatly enhanced with additional research and teaching resources, interactive online activities, digitized maps, documents and photographs, and new curriculum-specific materials. The improved web module will be launched in 2014 to coincide with the CWM's exhibitions and programming marking the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War.
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario $50,000
Environmental Research, Programming and Education
The ROM continues to advance biodiversity and conservation research, transferred to museum audiences through the engaging exhibits of the Biodiversity: Life in Crisis Gallery and through Earth Rangers' environmental education and programming.
Environment
Arctic Athabaskan Council, Whitehorse, Yukon $15,000
Arctic Biodiversity Assessment
The AAC will undertake to explain and publicize the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment to its online members and within Athabaskan communities, using the assessment to promote effective conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat both nationally and internationally. Communication with members has been enhanced through additional components built into the AAC website along with a regular newsletter. Feature articles and op-ed pieces placed in Canadian and US newspapers will explain why the ABA is important to northern people and how increased international observer status at Arctic Council can provide a forum for broader understanding of Arctic issues.
www.arcticathabaskancouncil.com
www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/biodiversity
Équiterre, Montréal, Québec $15,000
Greater Reductions in the Cosmetic Use of Pesticides in Québec
Équiterre continues to advance the agenda for supporting stronger laws and stricter controls on the sale and use of pesticides in Québec. Throughout 2013 Équiterre will continue to urge the Québec government to upwardly revise the 2003 Pesticides Management Code and ban products capable of having serious and long-term effects on human health as well as contaminating soil, water and air in the environment.
Sierra Club of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Reducing Nutrient Loading in the Great Lakes
Phosphorus loading in particular will be evaluated within the context of commitments made by both Canada and the US to improve water quality in the Great Lakes in the recently updated Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Working in tandem with Sierra Club US both organizations will engage the public on nutrient loading issues and the need to address inadequate municipal water and wastewater infrastructure of Great Lakes communities - with priority concern for reducing multiple-source phosphorus loadings to Lake Erie.
www.cee.mtu.edu/~nurban/classes/ce5508/2007/Readings/dolan05.pdf
Toronto Environmental Alliance, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
DeTOx Toronto Initiative
DeTOx Toronto will facilitate citizen engagement and training in understanding the environmental health risks of local toxic hot spots around Toronto and how to develop action plans for local toxics reduction through strong community collaborations. At the same time TEA will work to build a well-resourced regional Community Right to Know (CRTK) network with health promotion workers, environmental researchers, community leaders and local residents to advocate effectively for pollution prevention and health protection. Other key partners will include local Community Health Centres and various health networks across Toronto to help build their toxics research and community outreach capacities.
Trout Unlimited Canada, Calgary, Alberta $20,000
Conservation Success Index for the Great Lakes
The Conservation Success Index is an ecosystem management tool used to quantify and map the conservation status of watersheds. Maps developed will show relative changes in water quality, quantity and connectivity, and impacts likely to affect biodiversity and ecosystem health. This will aid in management decisions for protection, reconnection, rehabilitation and monitoring across Great Lakes watersheds, river basins and fish species. The CSI is initially being developed for Lake Superior in Canada and will eventually be extended to all of the Great Lakes while similar work is being carried out on the US side.
www.tu.org/science/conservation-success-index
WWF Canada, Toronto, Ontario $60,000
Marine Spatial Planning, Inuvik, NWT
WWF continues to build stakeholder relationships and better understanding of local perspectives within the various Inuvialuit communities. Governance and decision-making in the Beaufort Sea are guided by traditional knowledge combined with the best available scientific data in spatial planning. Collaboration between Inuvialuit of the Northwest Territories and the Inupiat of Alaska is helping to build a comprehensive baseline of scientific and traditional knowledge for integrated ocean management in the Beaufort Sea, harmonizing cross-border stewardship of ecological and cultural values.
www.wwf.ca/conservation/arctic
2012
Arts and Culture
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Online Learning and Teaching Resources
The Online Learning project will provide access to the AGO's educational resources for classroom use, in communities and for artists as part of the new Weston Family Learning Centre's virtual visit capacity and outreach. Online teaching and learning will use different modes of information exchange and delivery in new approaches to school-based learning, community art-making and art education, putting the Gallery's artwork and resources into the hands of learners online. Second of a three-year grant.
www.ago.net/new-online-workshops
Cape Farewell Foundation, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Carbon 14 Project
The Carbon 14 Project is a collaboration among scientists, economists, artists and other professionals to create an issue-based, thematic exhibition on the challenges of climate change. The resulting dialogue between science and art will be exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Culture at the Royal Ontario Museum from October 2013 for four months - exploring anticipated effects from a warming climate such as biodiversity loss and species extinctions, climate migration and refugees, indigenous observations and traditional knowledge, sustainability and clean technologies. The exhibit will later tour several major urban centres in North America to promote a cultural response to climate change. Second of a 2-year grant.
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario $50,000
Environmental Research, Programming and Education
To the early stage development of the ROM's new Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation whose research and expertise will feed into regular updates for environmental programming and public education offered by Earth Rangers in the Gallery of Biodiversity. First of a three-year grant.
Tides Canada Initiatives, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
ArtBridges/ToileDesArts
ArtBridges/ToileDesArts provides an interactive online platform for improving access to art and art-making in under-resourced remote, aboriginal, francophone, inner city and new immigrant communities across Canada. Through social media and information-sharing, the website offers community arts practitioners innovative ideas for online collaboration, toolkits, workshops, stories, videos, program updates and local events. Third of a three-year grant.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries of the English language (600 - 1150) using 21st century technology and research tools. Eight of the 22 letters of the Old English alphabet have been published and more than 60% of the total entries have been written to date. The Old English Corpus provides a database of at least one copy of every surviving Old English text. The DOE has an international Advisory Committee and the editors consult with scholars worldwide with expert knowledge of specialized vocabulary such as legal, medical and botanical terms. The DOE complements the Middle English Dictionary (covering the period 1100 - 1500) and the Oxford English Dictionary. Together they provide a full description of the vocabulary of English.
Environment
Arctic Athabaskan Council, Whitehorse, Yukon $25,000
Arctic Biodiversity Assessment
The Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) was authorized by the Arctic Council as a contribution to the UN Environment Program/Convention on Biological Diversity target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss. The Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) seeks to ensure that the ABA deals directly with the impacts of biodiversity loss on the 76 communities of Athabaskan peoples as well as their way of life, including the critical value of ecosystem services and the effect climate change may have on barren-ground and woodland caribou herds. Traditional ecological knowledge is being gathered locally and regionally to provide an essential contribution to scientific research collected for the ABA. Together these will provide a baseline for regional and global biodiversity assessments and will serve to inform policy recommendations for implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity. Second of a three-year grant.
www.arcticathabaskancouncil.com
www.arctic-council.org/index.php/en/biodiversity
Canadian Environmental Law Association, Toronto, Ontario $19,550
Reducing Toxic Substances in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Ecosystems
CELA will produce a roadmap highlighting key federal and provincial chemical management regimes for Ontario and Québec that address toxic substances in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence ecosystem, plus a model criteria framework for prioritizing substances of concern, with recommendations for safer alternatives (sometimes referred to as "informed substitution"). CELA will promote broad public engagement of health, labour and public interest organizations in a Great Lakes chemicals management discussion to reduce if not eliminate specific toxic substances from industrial sources and consumer products. They will set forth the case for implementing safer alternatives to safeguard the environment and human health. First of a two-year grant.
www.cela.ca/sites/cela.ca/files/667IJC.pdf
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $15,000
Ecological Action in the Atlantic Maritime Ecozone
Drawing from ecosystem status and trends reports published by the Canadian Councils of Resource Ministers and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans the CCNB is building public understanding about the state of ecosystems in the maritimes and southeastern Québec through the printing, distribution and online publishing of current trends. They will also bring together colleagues from the four Atlantic Maritime Ecozone provinces: Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI to develop action plans for addressing the key findings of these reports in response to regional ecological decline.
www.biodivcanada.ca/ecosystems
Environmental Defence, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Strengthening and Expanding Ontario's Greenbelt
A simple amendment to the Greenbelt Plan (2005) will add to the Greenbelt the widely approved inclusion of an additional 255 hectares (630 acres) of the provincially owned Glenorchy lands in Oakville - a landscape of rolling hills, forests, creeks and wetlands. Ontario is also holding public consultation meetings on a new Urban River Valley Greenbelt designation that would protect publicly owned lands near urban waterways such as the Don, Humber and Sixteen Mile Creek river valleys. Environmental Defence has enlisted citizen support through outreach and direct engagement while strengthening the 80-member Greenbelt Alliance as it begins to look at defining a vision for the 2015 review of the Greenbelt Plan. Second of a two-year grant.
Équiterre, Montréal, Québec $15,000
Greater Reductions in the Non-Essential Use of Pesticides in Québec
Équiterre is working to achieve significant reductions in the number of active ingredients contained in pesticides currently allowed in Québec as well as having certain pesticide products banned. Alternatives to using synthetic pesticides will be promoted among the public as well as landscaping professionals while Équiterre continues to advocate for strengthening the provincial Pesticide Management Code to provide greater protection for human health and the environment. Second of a three-year grant.
Green Budget Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario $5,000
The Green Budget Coalition is comprised of 16 of Canada's leading environmental and conservation organizations. In advance of the annual Federal Budget the GBC makes recommendations to representatives of all parties on specific priorities identified annually such as measures to support freshwater resources, water and wastewater systems, species at risk, energy efficiency and clean energy development. Second of a two-year grant.
Hamilton Naturalists' Club, Hamilton, Ontario $15,000
Hamilton Natural Areas Inventory Project
With the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Conservation Authority as lead partners and with assistance from ministries and other regional agencies, the Natural Areas Inventory Project builds on two earlier 10 and 20-year inventories in order to update information on species, vegetation communities and site boundaries. Looking systematically at changes that have occurred due to urbanization, environmental pollution and shifting weather patterns, decision-makers can adjust priorities and allocate resources for enhancing natural areas, and provide corresponding protection measures. Second of a two-year grant.
Kawartha Heritage Conservancy, Peterborough, Ontario $10,000
Building a Natural Heritage System for the Kawarthas
The Natural Heritage Strategy offers a science-based vision and plan for identifying and implementing conservation efforts throughout the Kawarthas. Through outreach and engagement with community partners and local government, policy and data gaps have been reviewed while common goals set for land-use, biodiversity targets and preservation of cultural heritage. KHC has used its GIS capacity for mapping and data layering to coordinate management plans for the protection and stewardship of wetlands, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest, riparian habitat, woodlands, valleylands and agricultural lands. Second of a two-year grant.
Société pour la Nature et les Parcs du Canada , Montréal, Québec $20,000
Promoting a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
SNAP continues to work with the St. Lawrence Coalition representing all 5 coastal provinces to promote an ecosystem approach to marine conservation and for establishing Marine Protected Areas throughout the St. Lawrence including the river, the estuary, and portions of the gulf. While oil and gas activity has been banned in the river between the Ontario border and Anticosti Island, the Québec sector of the Gulf at the Old Harry prospect may yet be subject to further oil and gas development. SNAP will commission a study in defence of the Gulf's natural capital and the enormous benefits derived from its ecological services. Second of a two-year grant.
The Living City Foundation, Toronto, Ontario $20,000
Integrated Ecosystem Recovery Framework
The Ecosystem Recovery Framework will integrate TRCA objectives for aquatic systems, water resources and headwater streams into the ongoing Ecosystem Recovery Planning Program to create a comprehensive restoration-planning framework. When developed it will be applied to two sub-watersheds within TRCA's jurisdiction to help direct future habitat restoration work, ensuring a strategic, integrated and comprehensive approach to restoration planning. First of a three-year grant.
Trout Unlimited Canada, Calgary, Alberta $20,000
Conservation Success Index for the Great Lakes
The Conservation Success Index (CSI) is an ecosystem-based management tool using layered mapping technology to analyze the conservation status of watersheds. The CSI has been used for several years in various parts of the United States and will now be applied to the Great Lakes both in Canada and the US, starting with Lake Superior. Layering different data sets of information allows for analysis and comparisons of existing conditions, threats and future security and will provide an understanding of watershed function and sensitivity. Changes in water quality, quantity and connectivity can be analyzed as well as impacts likely to affect biodiversity and ecosystem health. This level of analysis will aid management decisions for protection, rehabilitation and monitoring across Great Lakes watersheds, river basins and fish species. First of a three-year grant.
www.tu.org/science/conservation-success-index
World Wildlife Fund Canada, Toronto, Ontario $60,000
Marine Spatial Planning, Inuvik, NWT
As a participating member of the Beaufort Sea Partnership, WWF continues to share its marine spatial planning resources and scientific data to help coordinate multiple stakeholder use and overall co-management of the Beaufort Sea. The goal of the Beaufort Sea Integrated Ocean Management Plan - one of 5 priority areas identified by the Government of Canada - is to provide a strategic, long-term plan to serve as a framework for decision-making and engagement in sustainably managing regional resources while meeting social, cultural and economic objectives. Second of a three-year grant.
2011
Arts and Culture
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario $25,000
Online Learning and Teaching Resources
The online learning project will be tested through 2012 and fully launched in 2013, providing creative educational resources to communities, artists and classrooms as part of the new Weston Family Learning Centre's outreach and networked communications. Using virtual classrooms, online lesson plans, podcasts, multi-media instruction and live streaming of educational events, AGO Online Learning and Teacher Resources opens a two-way flow of communication about art, cultural geography and representation between the AGO and distant communities. First of a 3-year grant.
Cape Farewell Foundation, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Carbon 14 Project
The Carbon 14 project will come together as a collaboration among scientists, economists, artists and other professionals to create an issue-based, thematic exhibition on the challenges of climate change. The resulting dialogue between science and art will be exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum from February to June 2014 after which it is expected to go on tour to a number of other city centres, promoting a cultural response to climate change. First of a two-year grant.
Grand Falls-Windsor Heritage Society, Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland $3,500
A joint project with Memorial University's Folklore and Language Archive, the Hiram Silk collection of tapes made for the CBC from the early 1950s to the 1980s will be fully digitized into an audio archive. Digitization of the original tapes will allow for safe storage and easy access to this rich spoken source of regional and local heritage, history, folklore and personal stories. These archival records will provide a sampling of a life that is fast disappearing in Newfoundland and in some cases is now lost.
London Regional Childrens' Museum, London, Ontario $15,000
Arctic Discovery Gallery
The Arctic and Canada's Arctic are increasingly of international interest over sovereignty, navigation, resource and environmental issues. The new 1,500 square foot Discovery Gallery will provide children with an opportunity to immerse themselves in the history, wildlife, people, geography and science of the Arctic. The exhibit will feature four theme areas of which the Salamander grant will be directed to: Land, Sea and Ice.
Tides Canada Initiatives, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Art Bridges/Toile des Arts
Art Bridges/Toile des Arts is a web-based information hub and social network to help build community art programs, resources, organizations and projects in under-resourced communities across Canada. Art Bridges/Toile des Arts aims to inform and connect people about community arts in Canada and how the arts can benefit community identity, community development, and social change. Connecting those who have arts resources with those who need them, Arts Bridges/Toile des Arts has collaborated with some 400 arts projects, programs and organizations Canada-wide in inner cities, rural areas, the far North and on reserves. Second of a 3-year grant.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
The Dictionary of Old English defines the vocabulary of the English language from approximately 600 to about 1150, well after the Norman Conquest. The period between 1100 and 1500 is covered by the Middle English Dictionary. Together with the Oxford English Dictionary (first published in 1884) these three resources will provide us with a full description of the vocabulary of the English language.
Environment
Arctic Athabaskan Council, Whitehorse, Yukon $25,000
Arctic Biodiversity Assessment
The Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) was authorized by Arctic Council as a contribution to the UN Environment Program/Convention on Biological Diversity target of halting or significantly reducing biodiversity loss. The Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC) seeks to ensure that the ABA deals directly with the impacts of biodiversity loss on the interests and rights of the 76 communities of Athabaskan peoples as well as their way of life, including the critical value of ecosystem services and the effect climate change may have on barren-ground and woodland caribou herds. Traditional Ecological Knowledge gathered locally and regionally will provide an essential contribution to scientific research collected for the ABA. Together these will provide a baseline for regional and global biodiversity assessments and for informing policy recommendations from the Arctic Athabaskan Council for the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. First of a 3-year grant.
www.arcticathabaskancouncil.com
Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment and Health, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Protecting Water Bodies from the Impacts of Mining
Working with community groups, First Nations, and a broad coalition of environmental organizations the Canary Institute continues to participate in multi-stakeholder environmental reviews to promote responsible mine-waste management, and to inform the Canadian public of long-term risks to watersheds, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems, fish and animal habitat when natural water bodies are proposed or used as tailings impoundments. The Institute continues to support remote communities in their bid to be listened to by Federal and Provincial authorities in calling for legal protection of local water resources. Second of a 2-year grant.
Climate Action Network Canada, Ottawa, Ontario $10,000
Key public policy issues related to climate change will be pursued by Climate Action Network over the next year. These include ending federal subsidies and tax breaks to the oil industry, restoring federal support for renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, and reinforcing clean energy initiatives and efficiencies at the provincial, territorial and local level. As lead voice of some 50+ member-organizations, Climate Action Network continues to coordinate strategy, information flow, joint news releases, meetings, conferences, and shared learning to deliver a coherent and forceful message on climate change and how to address it.
Environmental Defence, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Strengthening and Expanding Ontario's Greenbelt
Over the next two years Environmental Defence will work with municipalities to add target areas to the Greenbelt. This will extend protection to more of Ontario's essential food-growing regions, green spaces and ecologically important wetlands plus areas of archeological, historical and cultural interest. Environmental Defence will enlist citizen support through direct engagement and outreach and strengthen the Greenbelt Alliance, a watchdog coalition of over 80 member organizations. First of a 2-year grant.
Équiterre, Montréal, Québec $15,000
Greater Reductions in the Non-Essential Use of Pesticides in Québec
Équiterre will promote awareness of alternatives to synthetic pesticides both among the public and among professionals working in the field of ornamental horticulture. In addition to public awareness and outreach, Équiterre will advocate for strengthening the provincial Pesticide Management Code in order to provide greater protection for human health and the environment. Advocacy tools and lessons learned will be shared with other jurisdictions to facilitate standards-based reductions in the cosmetic use of pesticides across Canada. First of a 3-year grant.
Great Lakes United, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
Great Lakes Water Conservation Collaborative
This two-year collaborative has brought together lead partners Great Lakes United, the POLIS Project, Environmental Defence and the US. Alliance for Water Efficiency to formalize a strong role for reduced water use at the regional level so that Ontario, Québec and US. states on the Great Lakes deliver robust state and provincial water conservation plans. The bi-national coalition of environmental groups will work to increase public awareness of water efficiency and conservation strategies, build recommendations for sustainable water use in 3 pilot communities: Hamilton, Waterloo and York Regions so that research, data and 'best practices' can be shared across the border and throughout Québec and Ontario, while later launching a social marketing campaign around improved understanding of individual water use habits, both in Canada and the US. Second of a two-year grant.
Green Budget Coalition, Ottawa, Ontario $5,000
The Green Budget Coalition is comprised of 20 of Canada's leading environmental and conservation organizations. In advance of the annual Federal Budget the GBC makes recommendations to representatives of all parties on specific priorities identified annually such as measures to support freshwater resources, water and wastewater systems, species at risk, energy efficiency and clean energy development. First of a two-year grant.
Hamilton Naturalists' Club, Hamilton, Ontario $15,000
Natural Areas Inventory Project for Hamilton
Partnering with the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Conservation Authority and with assistance from regional agencies, government ministries and other organizations, the Natural Areas Inventory Project will build on two earlier 10 and 20-year inventories in order to update information on species, vegetation communities and site boundaries. A systematic look at changes that have occurred in average weather conditions or changes due to urbanization and environmental pollution will allow decision-makers to plan for enhancement of these natural areas, with corresponding protection measures. Action on the ground will include the expansion of some areas, the creation of new habitat and rehabilitation projects in local natural areas. First of a 2-year grant.
Kawartha Heritage Conservancy, Peterborough, Ontario $18,000
A Natural Heritage Strategy for the Kawartha Region
The Natural Heritage Strategy offers a science-based vision and plan for identifying and implementing conservation efforts throughout the Kawarthas. Using a multi-stakeholder approach the Natural Heritage Strategy will address policy gaps while identifying common goals for conservation, land-use, biodiversity, and cultural heritage. KHC will use its strengths in GIS capacity, mapping and data layering to coordinate management plans for the protection and stewardship of wetlands, valleys, Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest, riparian habitat, woodlands, wildlife habitat, and agricultural lands. At the community level, the Natural Heritage Strategy will support active stakeholder engagement in local stewardship initiatives. First of a 2-year grant.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Documenting Biodiversity in the Caledonia Gorge Protected Natural Area
Bioblitz 2011 is the third year of a long-term project established in 2009 by the New Brunswick Museum's Centre for Biodiversity Research to investigate the biological diversity of the province's 10 largest Protected Natural Areas (PNAs). The Caledonia Gorge is the smallest of these. Biodiversity specialists from Canada and the United States will spend 2 weeks intensively investigating the biodiversity of this poorly known conservation area. Information collected will support the development of an environmental management plan for the Gorge and will inform future research projects and ecosystem monitoring in the province's PNAs. Specimens collected will be deposited in the New Brunswick Museum and associated data made widely accessible through online databases and global biodiversity initiatives. Involvement and interaction between the local community and the Bioblitz team will promote continued public stewardship of the Gorge going forward. Third of a 3-year grant.
Société de conservation des milieux humides du Québec, Québec, Québec $10,000
To address the deterioration and major loss of wetlands along the St. Lawrence River and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence the Quebec Society for Wetland Conservation works to safeguard the biodiversity and preservation of species at risk in significant marshes, swamps and peatlands. Its network of protected natural areas include wetlands in Quebec's Appalachian ecoregion, in the St. Lawrence Lowlands and freshwater estuaries, the Canadian Shield, and saltmarshes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Baie des Chaleurs. This grant is directed to updating the organization's website with additional web design and programming as well as an update of the GIS database for the administration and management of the QSWC's network of nature reserves.
Société pour la Nature et les Parcs du Canada - Québec, Montréal, Québec $20,000
Promoting a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence
Shared by 5 provinces, the Gulf of St. Lawrence requires an integrated management approach to marine conservation as a single ecosystem. Under increasing pressure to develop offshore oil and gas in the Gulf, this calls for effective coordinated action to move marine conservation forward. CPAWS - Québec will promote the establishment of Marine Protected Areas using a 'whole ecosystem' approach to marine conservation. This will be carried out through partnerships and public engagement at the local and regional levels along with an interprovincial coalition including federal and provincial agencies. First of a 2-year grant.
Sustainability Network, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Enhancing Online Learning Opportunities
Throughout 2010, Sustainability Network used Web 2.0 technology to provide networking and learning opportunities via Webinars, workshops, an enhanced newsletter, archived materials, and meeting space for ongoing Learning Networks (the Boreal, Alberta Water, Ontario Freshwater). In 2011, Sustainability Network continues to experiment with online technology to optimize information exchange, timely access to leadership and management issues, networking opportunities for its Learning Networks, and general feedback from its subscribers in the environment community. Second of a 2-year grant.
WWF Canada, Toronto, Ontario $60,000
Marine Spatial Planning, Inuvik, NWT
WWF is a participating member of the Beaufort Sea Partnership, the primary forum for stakeholder engagement in the integrated ocean management of the Beaufort Sea Large Oceans Management Area. WWF's Marine Spatial Planning adviser will assemble and analyse spatial data to support Indigenous and local communities in protecting social and cultural priorities as well as economic and environmental values for this remote and ecologically fragile area. As climate change increasingly allows greater access to resource development, integrated ocean management of the Beaufort Sea is of vital importance for the people who live there and for safeguarding the environment. First of a 3-year grant.
2010
Arts and Culture
Tides Canada, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Art Bridges/Toile des Arts
For Canadians living in remote, isolated, or under-resourced communities, Art Bridges/Toile des Arts will provide web-based services, art resources and an online forum to help build a network of communities and individuals engaged in arts projects across Canada. It will function as an interactive information hub for community art projects, programs, and organizations delivering art services, resources and education. While a scan of each province and territory across Canada has identified over 300 community art services, there is a critical unmet need for resources and information to be shared among those who have resources with those who need them. First of a three-year grant.
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $75,000
Dictionary of Old English
The DOE defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries of English from around 600 to 1150 using the technology of the 21st century. It is based on an electronic Corpus of 3 million words comprised of at least one copy of each surviving text in Old English. This includes parchment writings, stone carvings, and inscriptions on metal. More than 60% of the total number of entries to the DOE have been written to date. Editors are currently drafting entries for the letters H, I/Y, L, M and N and assigning spellings to headwords for the letter O. Also published online is a bibliography of Old English texts and Latin sources cited in the Dictionary.
Environment
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia $15,000
Advancing Marine Protected Areas for the Bay of Fundy
CPAWS-Nova Scotia will continue to promote key sites in the Bay of Fundy for National Marine Conservation protection in support of the Federal Government's commitment to set up a national system of marine protected areas. Once representative marine areas have been identified, extensive local consultations and feasibility studies will help determine the most suitable sites. Digby Neck and Islands are prime candidates for protection, where community engagement and active participation from fishermen groups working with CPAWS is building a robust local community conservation plan. The goal of the conservation plan is to integrate social and economic values with biodiversity protection and ecological conservation in preparation for potential designation as a marine protected area.
Canary Research Institute for Mining, Environment and Health, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Protecting Water Bodies from the Impacts of Mining
The Canary Institute will continue to lead a broad coalition of environmental NGOs in seeking to protect Canadian watersheds, groundwater and aquatic ecosystems from the impacts of mining. The Institute continues to promote responsible mine-waste management as opposed to the convenient use of fish-bearing streams and lakes as tailings impoundment areas. In addition, the Institute supports remote communities in their bid to be listened to by Federal and Provincial authorities to apply legal protection to local water resources. First of a two-year grant.
Conservation Council of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick $15,000
Biodiversity - Putting Nature Back in the Equation
In the context of the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, the CCNB is undertaking a number of initiatives to promote a national dialogue on the need to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services, and how to tackle the growing biodiversity crisis. Biodiversity conservation will be brought front and centre as the overriding objective of fisheries management, forest management, pesticides management, land-use planning, and overall environmental planning and assessment.
Conservation Foundation of Greater Toronto, Toronto, Ontario $30,000
Recovery Planning Program and Strategic Restoration Project
The Ecosystem Recovery Planning Program integrates numerous different data layers and GIS techniques at various scales to help prioritize habitat restoration within the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's jurisdiction. The program uses both coarse and fine filter analysis not only for locating priority geographic areas but also to identify priority vegetation communities and target species for ecosystem recovery. 2010 will see the analysis used in a number of different restoration plans and projects across the TRCA. Third of a three-year grant.
Earth Rangers Foundation, Woodbridge, Ontario $14,500
Earth Rangers' United Nations Biodiversity Project
Core elements from the Global Biodiversity Outlook (May 2010) released by the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, will be incorporated into Earth Rangers' messaging and communications on biodiversity. The 2002 target of significantly reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, agreed to by governments worldwide has not been met. Multiple indications demonstrate that biodiversity has continued to decline across the three main categories of genes, species and ecosystems. In this International Year of Biodiversity, Earth Rangers' analysis and dissemination of key elements of the 2010 Global Biodiversity Outlook will help educate children and inform the public of the critical importance of protecting biodiversity and safeguarding it with effective public policy measures.
Great Lakes United, Ottawa, Ontario $20,000
Great Lakes Water Conservation Collaborative
This cross-border collaborative of Canadian and American NGOs seeks to formalize a strong role for reduced water-use at the regional level so that Ontario and US. states on the Great Lakes deliver strong state and provincial conservation plans due December 2010, setting new standards for regional water conservation going forward. Regional strategies will link closely with municipal and public outreach initiatives already underway. Through 2010 Great Lakes United will carefully monitor the implementation of the Annex Agreements, and the Polis Project on Ecological Governance will track how the pumping and treating of water can be reduced along with the high electricity costs and greenhouse gases these produce. First of a two-year grant.
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick $13,000
Bioblitz 2010: Documenting Biodiversity in the Jacquet River Gorge (2)
The 60 identified Protected Natural Areas on Crown Land in New Brunswick are representative of the province's different ecoregions. Each one requires an environmental management plan to ensure its biodiversity is documented and maintained. Representative specimens gathered in the 2010 Jacquet River Gorge Bioblitz will be deposited with the Museum and fully documented. Associated specimen data will be added to Internet databases maintained by the Museum and this, in turn can be fed into broader global biodiversity initiatives. The 2010 Bioblitz will be carried out by approximately 25 volunteer biodiversity specialists who, in the months following will prepare and fully document material found. The Jacquet River Gorge is the largest of New Brunswick's Protected Natural Areas, one of the most remote, and one of the least known. Second of a three-year grant.
Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve, Georgetown, Ontario $25,000
Flowing Waters Information System
The web-based FWIS will provide a common, accessible and reliable means for managing raw data associated with waters flowing into the Great Lakes. The new system will allow for an integrated, simplified and streamlined approach to assessment, and will facilitate prioritization of stewardship activities. As a networked communication tool, the FWIS will allow water management stakeholders to comprehensively monitor basin tributary conditions and contributions to the Great Lakes, and to develop adaptive management strategies for the whole basin.
Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Ottawa, Ontario $15,000
Completing the Greenbelt, with Protection for the Oak Ridges Moraine Watershed
Sierra Club continues to promote the protection of environmentally sensitive lands in the Oak Ridges Moraine watershed: Durham Region's Carruthers Creek and Duffins Creek watersheds, both of which are subject to significant development pressure as well as natural areas and lands in the Credit River watershed, covering parts of both Peel and Halton Regions. Since these key water resource systems have a functional relationship to the Ontario Greenbelt, their inclusion in the Greenbelt would provide them with permanent protection and help sustain the ecological integrity of the region. Second of a two-year grant.
Sustainability Network, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Online Learning Opportunities with Web 2.0 Technology
The use of Web 2.0 technology will facilitate bringing people together online, providing learning and networking opportunities and a means to keep connected between gatherings. Sustainability Network will pursue its core mission to strengthen the management skills of environmental leaders using Web 2.0 online workshops, Webinars, an enhanced e-newsletter, and online meeting space for Learning Networks. First of a two-year grant.
The Natural Step, Ottawa, Ontario $25,000
Communications Strategy 2010
To support the launch of a new strategic communications strategy, marketing and outreach, with improved content and functionality for the TNS website, a network exchange, new toolkits and materials, and targeted communications for each of the organization's program areas. The new communications strategy will include stories about emerging leaders and change agents in municipalities, organizations and businesses explaining how change happens, using a systems approach to sustainability to achieve better decisions, upstream solutions and lasting change.
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario $35,000
Sustainable Prosperity
Sustainable Prosperity's network of academics, business leaders and policy experts provide research and policy options for market-based approaches to transforming Canada's energy systems into driving a strong, competitive, low-carbon, green economy. Developing and promoting pragmatic, economically sound policy and market models will help move Canada in the direction of greener, more sustainable development. Third of a three-year grant.
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario $5,000
Alternatives Journal
The October 2010 issue of Alternatives is devoted to biodiversity in this, the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity. Biodiversity and species loss continue apace at the global, regional and national level and Canada is no exception in failing to meet its 2002 international commitment to halt the decline in biodiversity and degradation of habitat with solid recovery strategies and action plans.
Wildlife Conservation Society, Toronto, Ontario $15,000
Conservation, Mapping and Public Engagement in the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Ecoregion
WCS continues to promote landscape-scale conservation and ecological connectivity through mapping and GIS capacity, building community stewardship and informed decision-making both locally and regionally in this Northern Appalachian and Acadian Ecoregion. Second of a two-year grant.