A Five-Year Oil Sands Wetland Ecosystem Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Plan

Since February 2012, the governments of Alberta and Canada have worked in partnership to implement an environmental monitoring program for the oil sands region. In December 2017 both governments renewed their commitment to working together with Indigenous communities in the region by the signing the Alberta-Canada Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Respecting Environmental Monitoring in the Oil Sands Region. The MOU establishes the foundation for an adaptive and inclusive approach to program implementation ensuring that the program is responsive to emerging priorities, information, knowledge, and input from key stakeholders and Indigenous peoples in the region. The Oil Sands Monitoring Program is designed to enhance the understanding of the state of the environment and cumulative environmental effects as a result of oil sands development in the region though monitoring and publicly reporting on the status and trends of air, water, land and biodiversity. Its vision is to integrate Indigenous knowledge and wisdom with western science to design, interpret, assess, report and govern the program. Canada and Alberta have provided leadership to strengthen program delivery and ensure that necessary monitoring and scientific activities meet program commitments and objectives. The oil sands industry provides funding support for the program under the Oil Sands Environmental Regulation (Alberta Regulation 226/2013). Key findings and results from the program inform regional resource management decisions and importantly, are considered as an objective source of scientific interpretation of credible environmental data. A mandated cornerstone of the program is the public reporting of data, status and trends of environmental impacts caused by development of oil sands resources. The Oil Sands Monitoring Program Technical Report Series provides an objective, and timely, evaluation and interpretation of monitoring data and information collected across environmental media of the program. This includes reporting and evaluation of emission/release sources, fate, effects and transport of contaminants, landscape disturbance and responses across theme areas including atmospheric, aquatic, biotic, wetlands, and community based monitoring.