Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Trading rations can also be used to allow inter-pollutant trading by establishing
environmental equivalency between different pollutants on water quality or ecological
integrity.
Regulatory conditions for WQT in Canada
In both permit trading and offset regimes, a regulatory driver is necessary to compel
the participants (or a subset of them) to be involved in trading. The regulatory driver for
permit trading is a performance-based standard derived from the environmental goal
established for the watershed. This watershed-based objective needs to be translated to
the level of the appropriate point sources. For offsets, there can be different types of
regulatory drivers, but at a minimum one is needed for the firms wishing to offset their
increased discharges by reducing those of others.
In Canada, water quality is a shared jurisdiction where provinces are the principal
regulator. There are some important federal responsibilities with respect to fisheries
management and navigation. Provinces have adopted different approaches with respect
to water quality regulation.
Given this context, we examined if provincial and federal water quality regulations
would hinder or promote water quality trading. It was found that five provinces had
authorising provisions supporting the development of tradable permit systems. The other
five provinces have the means, through existing advisory boards, to consider the
development of tradable systems and make recommendations to the responsible minister
to that effect. Only one province has adopted regulations concerning the development of
tradable systems. All provinces have provisions concerning the measure and declaration
of discharges in water bodies, and can establish ambient water quality standards.
The majority of provinces are developing watershed-based management systems, and
all have the means to initiate a trading programme through a watershed management
process, a nutrient management plan or some other planning process.
The federal government would be in a position to implement a water quality trading
programme for coastal and estuarine waters and for those waters deemed by the federal
government and a province to be of national significance.
Important limits affecting a few provinces include: the lack of flexibility to relax
standards to allow offsets or permits; the lack of clarity on assimilative capacity;
continued reliance on command-and-control regulation; and by the slow movement
towards ambient-based approaches.
Policy coherence
Existing AAFC policy and programmes were briefly examined to evaluate the
compatibility of existing approaches with water quality trading. Under the Agricultural
Policy Framework, AAFC has established a number of programmes related to on-farm
action, knowledge and information development, and performance measurement.
Although not designed with water quality trading in mind, these programmes could
support the establishment of water quality trading programmes. For example, the research
programmes could assist efforts to establish water quality trading programmes by
characterising watersheds, understanding the fate and transport of pollutants, assisting in
the development of equivalency ratios, and undertaking economic valuation of water
resources.
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