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Table 6: Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS)

SDS Departmental Goals

Agenda 2009: A Sustainable Development Strategy for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada defines DFAIT's sustainable development (SD) initiatives for the period of 2007-09. The initiatives support two broad goals and five objectives as follows:

Goal 1: Ensure greater integration of sustainable development into departmental policies, programs and operations.

  • Objective 1.1: Organisational structures and processes support meaningful and significant sustainable development objectives.

  • Objective 1.2: Improved environmental management practices through the Environmental Management System.

Goal 2: Advance Canada's sustainable development interests related to foreign affairs and international trade.

  • Objective 2.1: Effective promotion of international security and respect for human rights, good governance and the rule of law as prerequisites for sustainable development.

  • Objective 2.2: Enhanced Canadian prosperity through advancement of Canadian sustainable development interests and priorities in trade relations, policies and programs.

  • Objective 2.3: Advancing Canada's interests on key environmental and sustainable development issues.

To meet these goals and objectives, DFAIT identified 13 targets supported by 43 actions that are led by 23 divisions throughout the department. The planning and implementation of each action is supported by a results chain template outlining proposed actions in terms of outcomes, indicators, timelines, resources and risks. The results chain template was put in place in an attempt to better articulate linkages to the regular departmental business planning processes. Progress on each action is recorded in DFAIT's SD database, which is used to produce the annual progress reports. These include the 2008 annual progress report, which falls under the 2008-09 Departmental Performance Report.

DFAIT's Sustainable Development Strategy-Agenda 2009-and annual reports can be found at www.international.gc.ca/enviro/strategy-strategie/2009/index.aspx?lang=eng.

Federal SD Goal(s), Including "Greening Government Operations" Goals

Expected outcomes and linkages to government-wide outcomes are highlighted in Agenda 2009. Approximately half of DFAIT's 43 actions directly support five of the six federal sustainable development goals, which are described in the 2006 guidance document Coordinating the Fourth Round of Departmental Sustainable Development Strategies (www.sdinfo.gc.ca/s12_e.cfm), namely: Clean Water; Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions; Sustainable Development Management: Sustainable Communities; Sustainable Development and Use of Natural Resources; and Governance for Sustainable Development. Below are a few examples of results achieved this year.


Expected Results 2008-09 Supporting Performance Measure(s) Achieved SDS Departmental Results for 2008-09
Three green procurement targets will be established and specific performance indicators will be identified. Number of green procurement targets that are developed and approved. The following three green procurement targets have been identified through the Environmental Management System action plans and agreed to for the department:
  1. Develop and implement a system to track green purchases using the Integrated Management System.
  2. No increase in the total number of purchased cordless mice in FY 2008-09 and reduce by 25% in FY 2009-10.
  3. Ensure that all departmental standing offers include environmental criteria.
Nuclear materials at three to five facilities will be secured against potential threats. Number of facilities where weapons-grade nuclear materials will be secured. Nuclear upgrade projects have now been established and/or completed at five facilities in the Russian Federation. The work at two of the five facilities has now been completed, effectively securing these facilities and bringing them up to international physical protection standards.

The development of the security upgrade design documents and the security upgrade projects at two additional facilities will be initiated in 2009 thanks to Canadian funding.

Canada continues to fund projects through the International Atomic Energy Agency's Nuclear Security Fund. Upgrading the physical protection at poorly secured facilities prevents the acquisition of materials that could be used for harmful purposes by terrorists and/or cause environmental damage.
Work with other countries to continue the elaboration and negotiation of the international regime on access and benefit sharing (ABS) of genetic resources. Negotiations on ABS to assist countries in meeting the World Summit on Sustainable Development target of a significant reduction by 2010 in the current rate of loss of biological diversity. DFAIT co-leads interdepartmental work on this issue with Environment Canada, including the development of Canadian negotiating positions. The Ad Hoc Open-Ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing was instructed in May 2008 by the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP-9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity to finalize the international ABS regime and to submit instruments for consideration and adoption by CoP-10, scheduled for October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. Negotiations continue.