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Megatrends, emerging issues and outlooks


Table 4.1.1: Canada and the US, summary of forest fires Canada


Number Area (ha)


2015 (to date) 10-yr average (to date) 6 669


3 953 043 Source: Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC)


Table 4.1.2: Area of change in square kilometres and % between the land cover map of 2005 and 2010 Area


km2


North America Canada


United States Mexico


Source: CEC 2010


place in both Canada and the US, these are not always able to keep pace with the environmental complexity that results from the widespread use of chemicals, especially in combinations. This situation will not quickly or easily change, as the development of ever newer compounds and use of chemicals continues to increase. As shown in Figure 4.1.11, chemical production is likely to increase by 25 per cent in the US and 27 per cent in Canada between 2012 and 2020.


The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires the US Environmental Protection Agency to compile, keep current and publish a list of chemical substances that are manufactured or processed, including imports, in the US. There are currently about 85 000 substances listed on the TSCA inventory (US EPA 2015a), and as new substances are developed they are added, at approximately 400 per year. Because of the development and growth of nanotechnology, the US EPA has reviewed about 160 nano-scale substances for possible inclusion on the inventory since 2005 (US EPA 2015b). Environment Canada and Health Canada manage the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP) set up in 2006. The CMP assesses environmental and human health risks posed by existing and new chemical substances, and develops and


259 285 204 049 52 294 2 942


%


1.22 2.06 0.55 0.15


implements measures to prevent or manage those risks, having completed a triage of some 23,000 chemicals that had been in commercial use during the previous two decades. Canada is one of the few countries that will meet the 2020 global goal of sound management of chemicals and waste.


Both countries also maintain online pollutant release and transfer registries. In the US, this is known as the Toxic Release Inventory (US EPA 2015b) and in Canada, the National Pollutant Release Inventory (Environment Canada 2015). These allow analysis of many aspects of polluting emissions across North America.


Additionally, green


chemistry approaches to design of products and processes that eliminate or reduce the production or use of hazardous products can be the way to address these potential risks (US EPA 2016a).


Contaminants of emerging concern


Contamination of freshwater systems by new, unmonitored or unregulated contaminants is a problem for both the countries of North America (see Section 2.6.1). Such contaminants of emerging concern have the potential to cause adverse ecological or human health effects (Halden 2015; Rosi-Marshall et al. 2013). These include contaminants that may be truly new ones that are unrecognised or not regularly monitored, or ones that are unregulated (Hull et al. 2015). Estimates suggest that such contaminants number approximately 40 000 and are rising daily (Halden 2015). They include a wide variety of synthetic chemicals and engineered particles, ranging from pharmaceutical drugs, personal care products, nanomaterials and microplastics (Bellenger and Cabana 2014) to artificial sweeteners (Spoelstra et al. 2013) and illicit drugs (Rosi-Marshall et al. 2015).


241 5 301 2 089 888


% of normal 126 189


Prescribed 58


8 311 US total 43 931 3 398 504


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