Government of Alberta Community Monitoring

Alberta Province is located where the Rocky Mountains meet the prairies in Western Canada. The province is the home for several Indigenous Peoples. Many of the community members depend on fish and other goods and services from the natural ecosystems for their lives and livelihoods.

The Community-Based Monitoring and Knowledge Unit of the Government of Alberta works together with Indigenous and local communities and their partners across Alberta to advance place-based environmental stewardship through Community-Based Monitoring and associated capacity building activities. The Unit is situated within Alberta Environment and Protected Areas. It has a mandate to:

• Inform effective stewardship of Alberta's airsheds and watersheds through monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on ambient environmental condition and pressures;

• Build meaningful partnerships to gather and share data and information to take stewardship action; and

• Foster practices and programs to enhance the use of best available knowledge, including Indigenous knowledge.

In 2019, the Government of Alberta established a five year strategic plan on Community-Based Monitoring to guide the government’s efforts in this field. It is now time to assess how these efforts have progressed - and to adjust the future direction of the plan if necessary.

The Government has asked a team led by Prof. Brenda Parlee, University of Alberta, to co-evaluate the government’s strategic plan 2019-2024 on Community-Based Monitoring together with the staff of the government. The team members include staff of the Human Environment Group, Calgary, and NORDECO, Copenhagen.

More information:

Finn Danielsen (E-mail: fd@nordeco.dk)