2008-09 Monitoring Annual Report

Purpose of the ONE Monitoring Program

The Niagara Escarpment Plan, Canada's first large-scale ecosystem-based land use plan, came into effect in 1985. The Plan implements the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act. The goal of the Act is:

"to provide for the maintenance of the Niagara Escarpment and lands in its vicinity substantially as a continuous natural environment, and to ensure only such development occurs as is compatible with that natural environment."

The Ontario's Niagara Escarpment (ONE) Monitoring Program was developed to determine if the Niagara Escarpment Plan is achieving the goal and objectives of the Act. The program focuses on the Escarpment as a living, interconnected landscape and examines the linkages between land use change and ecosystem status.

Traditional monitoring approaches often focus on one aspect of the environment (e.g. air, water). The ONE Monitoring Program uses a suite of indicators to monitor a wide range of ecosystem components.

The Biosphere Reserve Connection

The ONE Monitoring Program supports the Escarpment's designation as a World Biosphere Reserve by implementing research and monitoring and providing education and training to biosphere reserve communities.  

ONE Monitoring Plots

Greenbelt Eco Services: ONE Comments

The ONE Monitoring Program commented on the David Suzuki Foundation report, "Ontario's Wealth, Canada's Future: Appreciating the Value of the Greenbelt's Eco-Services" in September of 2008.  

The purpose of the report was to quantify the natural capital provided by the Greenbelt's eco-services to increase public knowledge of the true value of the natural environment and the potential cost of human impacts from development.  

Report highlights:

·     The value of the Greenbelt's non-market ecosystems services was estimated to be $2.6 billion per year (approx. $3500 per hectare). This is a conservative estimate due to an incomplete understanding of all benefits provided by nature, intrinsic values and the fact that nature itself is irreplaceable.  

·     The Greenbelt'swetlands and forests hold the greatest value, with a combined value of over $2.3 billion.  

·    Overall, the highest total values of natural capital were found along the Escarpment in the Bruce Peninsula.

The full report is available for downloading at www.davidsuzuki.org