Prince Edward Island: Environment profile

• Climate Change Strategies: PEI and Climate Change—A Strategy for Reducing the Impacts of Global Warming (2008); PEI Energy Strategy (2008); Island Wind Energy—Securing Our Future (2008)
• Total PEI Emissions, 2013: 1.8 Mt (Source: National Inventory Report, 2015)
• PEI Contribution to total Canadian GHG Emissions, 2013: 0.25%
• Ranked 10^th largest GHG emitter among Canadian provinces and territories in 2013
• GHG per Capita, 2012: 13.4 tonnes; ranked 4^th lowest GHG emitter per Capita, 2012
• PEI’s climate change strategy focuses on lowering GHG emissions, enhancing carbon sinks, helping to prepare for the impacts of climate change, and increasing public awareness.
• Actions to date have focused on improving energy efficiency and increasing production of renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass).
• A 5-year energy accord with the Maritime Electric Company Ltd. came into force in 2011 and includes the goal of increasing reliance on locally owned wind power.

Water

Departments responsible for water:

Department of Communities, Land and Environment

Minister responsible for water:

Hon. Robert Mitchell

Legislation and regulations:

Environmental Protection Act, Watercourse and Wetland Protection Regulations, Drinking Water and Wastewater Facility Operating Regulations

• Water Strategies: Water Extraction Policy (2013), Drinking Water Strategy (2001), Wetland Conservation Policy (2003), Stewardship and Sustainability: a Renewed Conservation Strategy for Prince Edward Island (1994), Prince Edward Island Watershed Strategy (2015)
• The Department of Communities, Land and Environment is responsible for the sustainable management, protection, and enhancement of PEI’s drinking water, groundwater, inland surface water and coastal estuaries.
• The Provincial Watershed Strategy was released in June 2015.
• A White Paper for consultation on the development of a Water Act was released in July 2015. The new Act is expected in Fall 2016.
• Key water priorities for PEI include sewage collection and treatment, watershed management, on-shore oil and gas exploration, coastal management, and fish kills.
• A sustainable development strategy is currently under development. One of the goals for sustainable land use is “to protect the quality and quantity of our water.”
• PEI’s Wetland Conservation Policy formalizes the development process in pursuit of its objective of managing human activity on or near wetlands in a manner which will achieve no net loss of wetlands and wetland function.
• PEI’s Drinking Water Strategy takes a multi-barrier approach to protecting drinking water, focusing on source protection, system design and operation, and monitoring and reporting.

Environment Canada and PEI Collaboration on Water

• Memorandum of Agreement on Water
• Atlantic Ecosystem Initiative

Biodiversity and wildlife

Department responsible for biodiversity and wildlife:

Department of Communities, Land and Environment

Minister responsible for biodiversity and wildlife:

Hon. Robert Mitchell

Legislation:

Environmental Protection Act, Forest Management Act, Wildlife Conservation Act, Natural Areas Protection Act

• Biodiversity and Conservation Strategies: Stewardship and Sustainability, A Renewed Conservation Strategy for Prince Edward Island (1994), Wildlife Policy for Prince Edward Island (1995), Significant Environmental Areas Plan (1991)

• PEI does not have a biodiversity strategy. Its history of settlement and land clearing has contributed to the loss of biodiversity at all levels.
• PEI began work on a sustainable development strategy in 2012 with the release of the discussion paper Planning for a Sustainable Future. The intention is to develop provincial land use policies and a conservation strategy using sustainable development principles, as recommended in the 2009 Report of the Commission on Land and Local Governance.
• To help inform the development of new provincial land use policies, PEI’s Environmental Advisory Council identified a set of guiding principles to direct decision-making, protection and sustainable development of PEI’s land and resources (Principles of Sustainable Development, 2013).
• 90% of PEI’s land base is privately owned. In 2010, land use in PEI was 44 % forest, 38% agriculture, 7% urban, recreational, residential and transportation development, 7% sand dune and wetlands, and 4% abandoned agriculture. (Source: Report of the Task Force on Land Use Policy, 2014).
• Percentage of freshwater and land protected in PEI: 2.8% (Source: Canadian Environment Sustainability Indicators, 2013).
• Environment Canada maintains one protected area on PEI, the Black Pond Migratory Bird Sanctuary, comprising about 100 hectares of PEI’s protected lands and waters.
• PEI’s 1991 Significant Environmental Areas Plan established a goal to set aside 7% of the province for conservation.