Management Structure
Previous page | ToC | Next page
Environment Canada's (EC) Audit and Evaluation Branch (A&E) completed the evaluation of the Georgia Basin Action Plan (GBAP) in April 2007. This project was selected for evaluation by EC's Departmental Audit and Evaluation Committee (DAEC) in November 2005. The DAEC directed that an approved evaluation framework be applied to the GBAP, one of the programs under Priority Ecosystems (PE).
There were significant delays in the completion of this project, principally due to an unsuccessful reporting by the contracted consultant applying the new framework; this resulted in the need for Evaluation Division staff to reprocess the data collected to produce the current report.
This document presents the findings and recommendations of the evaluation of the Georgia Basin Action Plan and is organized in the following way:
The Georgia Basin Action Plan (GBAP), an evolution of the earlier Georgia Basin Ecosystem Initiative, was implemented on April 1, 2003, to establish priorities and undertake initiatives that positively influence the state of the natural environment, economic growth and social capital within the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound region. The GBAP is the second five-year phase (2003-2008) of collaborative programming for the Georgia Basin and builds on previous and continuing initiatives such as the:
Fraser River Estuary Management Program (FREMP);
Burrard Inlet Environmental Action Program (BIEAP); and
Fraser River Action Plan (FRAP).
The GBAP encompasses the mid- to south-eastern portion of Vancouver Island, the lower mainland (including Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver Regional District), the lower Fraser Valley and the Sunshine Coast. Together, these areas represent the fastest growing urban area in British Columbia. The environmental pressures are clearly linked to the impact of population growth on space, land use, transportation, resources and development.
To protect, restore and conserve this unique ecosystem, the federal government launched the Georgia Basin Ecosystem Initiative (GBEI) in 1998. The GBEI pursued a vision of "managing growth to achieve healthy, productive and sustainable ecosystems and communities" by pursuing four component action plans, each of which has an associated goal, also known as the "ultimate outcome." The four action plans were Achieving Clean Air, Achieving Clean Water, Conserving and Protecting Habitat and Species, and Sustainable Communities.
Due to the interconnection between the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound ecosystems, the Joint Statement of Cooperation on the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound Ecosystems was signed by Environment Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency in January 2000.
As is the case with the GBEI, the GBAP is one of six geographically-based ecosystem initiatives in operation across the country. These Ecosystem Initiatives (EIs) target priority ecosystems to address and solve complex environmental issues in concert with stakeholders. The objective of Priority Ecosystems is to attain the highest level of environmental quality within a targeted ecosystem. This acts as a means to enhance the health and safety of Canadians, preserve and enhance our natural environment, and optimize economic growth by applying an integrated ecosystem management approach.
Current Priority Ecosystem Initiatives (PEIs) are:
Atlantic Canada Ecosystems and Communities;
Georgia Basin Ecosystem;
Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem;
Northern Ecosystem;
St. Lawrence River Ecosystem; and
Western Boreal Ecosystem.
In addition, a Priority Ecosystem Initiative Integration OPP was set up to address horizontal issues related to ecosystem management.
In leveraging collective capacity through partnerships, Priority Ecosystems were developed based on environmental, health and economic competitiveness factors, as well as an effort to respond to the unique problems of targeted areas and communities.
A number of core principles characterize Priority Ecosystems, including the following:
Decisions based on sound science — including natural and social sciences combined with local and traditional knowledge;
An ecosystem approach — recognizing the interrelationships among land, air, water, wildlife and human activities;
Federal-provincial-territorial partnerships — governments working together to achieve the highest level of environmental quality for all Canadians;
A citizen/community base — working with individuals, communities, Aboriginal peoples, industry and governments in the design and implementation of initiatives; and
Pollution prevention — promoting a precautionary approach.
At the heart of integrated ecosystem management is the approach of breaking down "stovepipes" created by departmental and jurisdictional mandates along with national program definitions, and allowing federal activities to be aligned with a shared management agenda composed of commonly agreed-upon priorities, goals and objectives. Its intended results are increased cooperation and coordination of federal efforts, enhanced efficiency and effectiveness, and the development of unified positions and perspectives.
The GBAP is committed to achieving the following goals1:
collaborative stewardship actions support the sustainability of the Georgia Basin;
sustainable land, aquatic and resource use planning and management support the conservation, protection and restoration of the environment, enhance human and social well-being, and contribute to a strengthened economy;
scientific and indigenous knowledge supports improved decision making by advancing the understanding of key ecosystem stresses; and
targeted ecosystems are protected and restored.
To realize these goals, the following strategies are implemented:
integrate environmental, social, and economic considerations;
generate new knowledge and develop relevant tools for decision makers and influencers;
target knowledge transfer to support and influence decisions at all levels;
optimize outreach and stewardship actions;
optimize government programs and collaboration to take direct action;
strengthen partnerships and strategic alliances; and
promote best practices.
To fully take advantage of the above strategies, the following GBAP actions have also been identified:
support the development of and access to stewardship tools and integrated resource and land-use data and information for the Georgia Basin and Puget Sound;
influence decisions and actions that support the sustainability of the Georgia Basin Ecosystem through the development of ecosystem health and community progress indicators;
promote and support shared leadership roles in stewardship, sustainable best practices and eco-efficiency amongst governments, non-government organizations, First Nations, the private sector, communities and individuals;
provide tools to implement ecosystem-, airshed- and watershed-based approaches in aquatic, land and resource use plans;
advance our understanding of socio-economic and health impacts of poor air, water, or habitat quality;
support the sustainable use of the ecosystem by aquatic and terrestrial resource-based industries;
improve scientific understanding and share indigenous knowledge of ecosystem stresses resulting from human activity;
improve understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation;
further identify links between human health and environmental conditions;
reduce loadings and emissions of toxics and contaminants in air and water;
protect drinking water sources; and
conserve, protect and restore important aquatic and terrestrial species and habitats.
A number of key result areas are shared by the GBAP formal partners (such as Parks Canada, the British Columbia Ministry of the Environment). As depicted in a logic model for the GBAP, these outcomes are as follows2:
Collaborative stewardship actions support the sustainability of the Georgia Basin.
Sustainable land, aquatic and resource use planning and management support the conservation, protection and restoration of the environment, enhance human and social wellbeing, and contribute to a strengthened economy.
Scientific and indigenous knowledge supports improved decision making by advancing the understanding of key ecosystem stresses.
Targeted ecosystems are protected and restored.
Information is accessible.
Trends are measured.
We work together.
All plans use an ecosystem approach.
Resource use is sustainable.
We understand the consequences of our choices.
The environment's impact on humans is better understood.
Climate change impacts are better understood.
We have safe water to drink.
Pollutants in the air and water are reduced.
Biodiversity is protected.
In addition to these shared results, Environment Canada has developed related short-term outcomes:
Common interests and priorities are identified and documented.
Communities of interest are engaged in sustainable decision-making.
Integrated data and information exist and can be accessed for better decision-making.
Indicators are created and provided to decision-makers.
Growth strategies, management plans and official community plans incorporate sustainability principles.
Decision tools are created and applied by communities of interest.
Aboriginal communities are engaged in partnerships.
Industry, landowners and local governments prevent the release of and reduce pollutants in air and water.
Areas with ecological values are acquired or designated.
Awareness among communities of interest around environmental issues and the socio-economic impacts of their decisions is enhanced.
Resource contributions are leveraged from other sources.
Collaborative partnerships build shared capacity to undertake projects.
The GBAP seeks to foster integrated and sustainable approaches to land use and development for the protection and conservation of habitat, species, water, air and the viability of economic opportunity and individual well-being within the Georgia Basin. Building upon previous agreements and partnerships, Environment Canada works directly with planners and decision makers within partnerships to foster more sustainable policies and processes in the Georgia Basin.
Many of the decisions and actions affecting the long-term success of the GBAP remain the purview of provincial and local governments. The GBAP allows EC to influence these decisions through shared science, technical information, networks, and program experience. Moreover, the GBAP's collaborative stewardship approach, supported by science and traditional knowledge, helps all partners to understand the consequences and impact of decisions. It also enables partners to take advantage of opportunities to ensure sustainable communities within the Georgia Basin.
The GBAP has a coordination and management structure that is intended to facilitate collaborative planning and stakeholder involvement within and across individual mandates by a number of departments and ministries, as well as partnering with other organizations on specific projects. The management structure is also planned to be flexible and to allow for developing partnerships.
As outlined in Figure 1, the governance structure of the GBAP is composed of the following bodies:
Figure 1 - Georgia Basin Action Plan
Management Structure
Steering Committee: The signatory parties to the Statement of Cooperation co-govern by means of a Steering Committee, at the senior executive or equivalent level. As designed, the Steering Committee, chaired by EC, is intended to provide oversight and general direction to the programs and actions undertaken through the Georgia Basin Action Plan. The Committee is responsible for the overall implementation of the action plan, including annual reporting on results. It also sets key directions and priorities, approves objectives for the coming year, receives progress reports on work and achievements to date, serves as a forum to mediate disputes, and approves annual communications plans, GBAP reports and public announcements. Included in the Steering Committee governance process is an annual meeting with a public participation component to enable interested stakeholders and other levels of government to provide input to planning as well as receive information on progress to date.
Coast Salish - First Nations: The original structure included an Advisory Forum that allowed for annual meetings with First Nation leaders in the Georgia Basin. This has since been replaced by the inclusion of the Coast Salish as signatory partners.
Georgia Basin Coordination Office: Environment Canada staffs the Georgia Basin Coordination Office (GBCO) to support the Steering Committee and Management Committee, foster information exchange, coordinate strategic communications, and facilitate program integration amongst and between the Planning and Implementation Teams and with complementary Georgia Basin - Puget Sound transboundary initiatives.
In addition, a number of stakeholder mechanisms and processes exist. Georgia Basin stakeholders and Puget Sound partners are invited to participate in two processes under the Action Plan: an annual partners' workshop that engages the full range of GBAP delivery partners to provide guidance, advice and support in the development of annual work plans; and an annual stakeholder meeting that provides an opportunity for the GBAP Steering Committee to report on progress, profile best practices and receive stakeholder input.
In April 2003, the federal Environment Minister announced a five-year contribution of $22.5 million, combined with an ongoing investment of $8 to $10 million from EC for clean air, clean water, habitat and species protection, and improved environmental decision making in the Georgia Basin. As of March 2004, an updated budget suggested the annual allocation for the GBAP was approximately $4.7 million, with the Coordination Office within EC overseeing its delivery. However, there is a significant amount of EC staff time that is dedicated to the GBAP that is not reflected in this budget figure. The funds are dedicated to projects that advance EC priorities. It is in this regard that there is a general anticipation that partner agencies and institutions will contribute their own resources, either financial or in-kind, towards the projects that they lead. These collaborative projects are identified through inter-agency PITs. Table 1 below summarizes Environment Canada's budget allocations by goal (objective), and by year, based on 2004 estimated data.
Note: Budget reflects over-programming which will be cash-managed by in-year adjustments
A number of key requirements and obligations (legislation, agreements, and memoranda of understanding) provide the necessary direction for the GBAP policy and strategies, including the following:
Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999;
Fisheries Act;
Species at Risk Act;
Canadian Biodiversity Strategy;
Georgia Basin Action Plan Framework for Collaboration (2003-2008);
Georgia Basin-Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy Statement of Intent;
National and Global Programmes of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities; and
US Environmental Protection Agency-Environment Canada Joint Statement of Cooperation on the Georgia Basin Puget Sound Ecosystem.
The Ecosystem Initiative Program of Environment Canada embodies this approach and enables the Government of Canada to focus on six priority areas in Canada of which the GBAP is one.
Environment Canada facilitates or leads integrated planning on a five-year cycle. This planning may involve the other federal departments working in the ecosystem, the provincial departments concerned, Aboriginal people, citizens and communities as well as non-governmental organizations. Partners are involved in intensive consultations held in connection with the implementation of Ecosystem Initiatives (EIs). The priorities identified through this process align with national priorities. The precautionary principle and risk management considerations are adopted in decision making.
Environment Canada currently has six EIs with a total annual budget of $24.5 million for 2005-2006. In some regions, other A-based funds have been coded to the EIs to augment programming delivery. Thus, the reference level for the EIs in 2004-2005 was $43.5 million. This budget has an important leverage effect because it secures the financial commitment of federal partners (and provincial partners for some initiatives) for an extended period.
For each Priority Ecosystem Initiative (PEI), a five-year plan is established with partners, as an effort to respond to the unique environmental and sustainability issues of targeted ecosystems. The plans incorporate measurable environmental results, collaborative governance mechanisms, integrated science and monitoring, community involvement, the sharing of information and experiences and informed decision making. The PEI plans (placed-based) incorporate many issues (wildlife, water, air, toxics, community projects, indicators) connected with broader national EC programs.
An unbundling exercise carried out in June 2006 was to facilitate better integration with national program objectives and results (national coherence and effectiveness as a balance to strong regional integration). Governance activities were maintained in the 1C1 OPG (PEI planning, coordination and reporting activities, partnership management (governance structures and agreements), community engagement and capacity building and strategic integration between PEIs and in the Department). The results and associated resources related to all other areas, however, were redistributed to the most appropriate OPG in the Department for the duration of the PEI action plans.
The delivering OPG and OPP Leads from that point on are accountable for delivering targeted results and commitments in Priority Ecosystems Action Plans and reporting on them. The resources are managed by the delivering OPP for the duration of the EI plan (five years) but EI resources are to become available at the end of an Action Plan for reallocation to new plans and priorities. Also, delivering OPGs are to be involved in the planning and development of new PEI five-year plans when they take place (development of agreed-upon results with partners, establishment and strengthening of partnerships, etc). This participation as well as the implementation of a new PEI Management Framework should lead to a more common approach, to design and delivery of PEIs in the Department.
There were four broad issue areas of focus for the evaluation, namely:
Program relevance — the degree of alignment with the directions and priorities of Environment Canada, the clarity of the intent of the GBAP, as well as the continuing rationale for the program given prevailing areas of need and the potential for overlap with other initiatives.
Success — perceived results of the GBAP, both intended and unintended, in areas supporting the mandate of the program.
Cost-effectiveness — the potential for the GBAP to use resources more effectively in the pursuit of its mandate.
Design and delivery — the clarity of activity, accountabilities, expected deliverables and intended results of the GBAP. In addition, process considerations pertaining to the allocation of resources, management of risk, monitoring and reporting, and the leveraging of partnerships were considered.
This evaluation of the GBAP is summative in nature. It will rigorously apply the 30 evaluation questions from the evaluation framework and examine all four evaluation issues noted above.
The framework is built on a traditional logic model, built on the premise that one uses resources (Inputs) and does things (Activities) which result in products (Outputs) targeted at certain stakeholders (Reach) in order to achieve certain results, desired end-points or altered conditions (Outcomes). Subsequently, a suite of generic evaluation questions (along with associated indicators and data sources) was developed that could be applied to any program and examined in tandem with the completed logic model. The questions focus on the four main evaluation issues - relevance, success, cost-effectiveness and design and delivery. These generic questions (which include the seven expenditure review questions) would be coupled with a handful of supplementary evaluation questions pertaining to the specific program being evaluated. These supplementary questions would be determined in the context of carrying out a specific evaluation. The evaluation framework is shown in Annex 1.
The Departmental Audit and Evaluation Committee (DAEC) of Environment Canada approved an evaluation framework composed of questions along with associated indicators and data sources. They directed that it be applied to Priority Ecosystem, GBAP. To test and support the approved framework, the evaluation employed the following data collection methods:
document reviews in order to assess whether the evolution of the GBAP, along with management issues, has been clearly understood and accurately reported as well as information on the program and its operations;
telephone and in-person interviews using structured guides with internal EC staff and external stakeholders and partners;
one facilitated focus group; and
a survey of Project Team Leads.
However, a number of limitations presented themselves during the course of this evaluation. The following represent the more noteworthy ones:
An initial contract to conduct and report on the GBAP in the context of the new framework failed to achieve the requisite results and the data collected were reprocessed in-house by Evaluation Division staff to produce the current report.
The ability to address some evaluation questions was limited by the availability of information, an issue that became more apparent as the evaluation unfolded. For example, without any documents reporting on financial costs, comparable programs to benchmark with, expenditure trends, data on project results, etc., it was not possible to produce a reliable assessment of efficiency and cost effectiveness.
It was found that certain evaluation framework questions were missed in the consultant's data collection instruments, leaving some of the evaluation questions with reduced available data for the subsequent analysis.
As shown in Annex 2, the ability to draw upon large numbers of stakeholders to participate in this evaluation was constrained.
1 Goals, strategies and actions are taken from the Georgia Basin Action Plan: Sustaining a Healthy Ecosystem and Healthy Communities 2003-2008. A Framework for Collaboration.
2 All of these results, including EC's role in the program, are represented in the GBAP Logic Model dated March 2004.
