Introduction
In March 2004, CCEA secured funding through Natural Resources Canada’s
(NRCan’s) GeoConnections Program to develop a web-based application
to enable standardized reporting and mapping for all Canadian public conservation
areas (more commonly called protected areas). The CARTS web portal builds
on an existing distributed network of servers being established in various
jurisdictions by the National Forest Information System (NFIS), a Canadian
Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM) GeoConnections partnership project.
Protected area agencies not connected to NFIS will be asked to maintain
data through a Web service accessible to the CARTS administrator. Such
a distributed network allows simultaneous access to various protected
areas data sets. It also ensures that control and updating of the data
remains within each custodial agency.
The CARTS project is responding to a longstanding need to
track and report on the status of Canada’s protected areas in a
consistent, standardized and authoritative manner. The site will create
standardized summary reports, graphs and tables as well as map-image display
and querying capabilities.
The CARTS has many applications. Through its mapping interface
and extensive data base and reporting capabilities, it contributes to
Canada’s program on protected areas (a responsibility of the Canadian
Wildlife Service) and will facilitate Canada’s response to the UN
Convention on Biological Diversity and National reporting to the World
Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), a Canadian Parks Agency responsibility.
CARTS will also support the design and expansion of new protected areas
for species at risk, critical habitat and integrated conservation planning.
Numerous other users will include OGDs, ENGOS, resource managers, industry,
and the Canadian public.
CARTS partnerships
Initial CCEA collaborators in the development of CARTS include protected
area experts from each of Canada’s 10 provinces, three territories
and three federal agencies with protected areas (Parks Canada Agency,
Canadian Wildlife Service and Fisheries and Oceans Canada). World Wildlife
Fund (Canada) has also been a major collaborator. The Canadian Parks Council,
representing Directors of parks from federal, provincial and territorial
agencies, has supported the development of CARTS which in turn has fostered
jurisdictional cooperation. The NFIS steering committee and project management
office have provided expertise, advice and have facilitated cooperation
between NFIS jurisdictional partners and Provincial/Territorial conservation
Agencies. Future partners will include ENGOs who have land stewardship
responsibilities such as the Nature Conservancy Canada (NCC) and Ducks
Unlimited Canada (DUC), and other levels of government who manage protected
areas.
Project accomplishments
CARTS is endorsed by the Canadian Parks Council;
The CCEA has prepared a standard Canadian Guidebook
to help interpret and apply the IUCN protected area management categories.
This guidebook is presently under review by CCEA jurisdictions;
The national database schema, consisting of 16 common
attributes has been developed ;
A national Geodatabase template has been developed for
protected area agencies who wish to use it to add their data; other
WMS-compatible database formats can also be used for greater flexibility;
A series of algorithms have been designed to automatically
create statistics, tables and graphs;
The CARTS portal has been created and is now being tested
on an internal server;
The portal has image display and query capability. It
can generate summary reports suitable for publication;
Engaged and encouraged jurisdictions to apply the national
schema, the Guidebook and actively upload their protected area data
for access from the portal.
Governance of CARTS
A governance body has been established for CARTS to ensure the sustainability
of the project’s vision beyond the project period. The project is
led by Environment Canada in close cooperation with the CCEA. The broad
terms of reference for the governance body include:
Guide the evolution of CARTS to address current and
future legislative, policy, science, and information requirements as
identified by the protected area community;
Develop strategies to maintain and expand the endorsement
and support of government agencies, intergovernmental protected area
bodies, and political bodies (where appropriate);
Provide guidance to the CARTS manager on matters related
to the content, uses, data providers, and marketing of CARTS as well
as exploring funding opportunities for expanding CARTS capabilities;
Be accountable to agencies funding the ongoing maintenance
of the portal; and
Enable CARTS to realize its full potential.
CCEA role
CCEA is playing a major role in the governance of CARTS. CCEA recognizes
that the managers of CARTS must be accountable to all protected areas
agencies who have shared their data. CCEA also recognizes that it must
be especially accountable to those government agencies that fulfill key
national reporting roles, especially Parks Canada Agency (who report to
IUCN on behalf of the Canadian Parks Council) and the Canadian Wildlife
Service (who coordinate and implement the CBD programme of work on protected
areas for Canada – a role transferred from CPC).
The CCEA leads in the development of the application
of IUCN protected areas categories to Canadian protected areas. It also
is responsible for the development of the IUCN guidebook for Canada. Once
completed, this information will be incorporated into the CARTS schema
to allow further analyses and generated authoritative statistics.|
CCEA has a long history in developing objective approaches to protected
area issues. CCEA is inclusive in its membership and can ensure that a
full range of protected areas stakeholders are represented. CCEA has a
3 year business plan in which CARTS will play a central role to data and
information management priorities. Developing communication opportunities
and products such as Canadian
Protected Areas Status Report 2000-2005 are strategic priorities of
CCEA for which CARTS is be vitally important.
For further information please contact: Robert Hélie
CCEA Secretariat
