Canada Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

metal smelting, coal-burning utilities, and vehicle emissions impacting agricultural and forest productivity; air pollution and resulting acid rain severely affecting lakes and damaging forests; ocean waters becoming contaminated due to agricultural, industrial, mining, and forestry activities

Environment - international agreements

party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Marine Life Conservation

Climate

varies from temperate in south to subarctic and arctic in north

Land use

agricultural land: 6.8% (2018 est.)

arable land: 4.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 1.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 34.1% (2018 est.)

other: 59.1% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 81.9% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 0.95% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.08% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0.08% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 6.39 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 544.89 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 101.82 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 25,103,034 tons (2014 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 5,168,715 tons (2008 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 20.6% (2008 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Huron* - 35,972 sq km; Great Bear Lake - 31,328 sq km; Superior* - 28,754 sq km; Great Slave Lake - 28,568 sq km; Lake Winnipeg - 24,387 sq km; Erie* - 12,776 sq km; Ontario* - 9,790 sq km; Lake Athabasca - 7,935 sq km; Reindeer Lake - 6,650 sq km; Nettilling Lake - 5,542 sq km
note - Great Lakes* area shown as Canadian waters

Major rivers (by length in km)

Mackenzie - 4, 241 km; Yukon river source (shared with the US [m]) - 3,185 km; Saint Lawrence river mouth (shared with US) - 3,058 km; Nelson - 2,570 km; Columbia river source (shared with the US [m]) - 1,953 km; Churchill - 1,600 km; Fraser - 1,368 km; Ottawa - 1,271 km; Athabasca - 1,231 km; North Saskatchewan - 1,220 km; Liard - 1,115 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Atlantic Ocean drainage: Mississippi* (Gulf of Mexico) (3,202,185 sq km, Canada only 32,000 sq km), Nelson (Hudson Bay) (1,093,141 sq km), Saint Lawrence* (1,049,636 sq km, Canada only 839,200 sq km)
Arctic Ocean drainage: Mackenzie (1,706,388 sq km)
Pacific Ocean drainage: Yukon* (847,620 sq km, Canada only 823,800 sq km), Columbia* (657,501 sq km, Canada only 103,000 sq km)
note - watersheds shared with the US shown with *

Major aquifers

Northern Great Plains Aquifer

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 4.87 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 27.51 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 3.86 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

2.9 trillion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Geoparks

total global geoparks and regional networks: 5

global geoparks and regional networks: Perce; Stonehammer; Tumbler Ridge; Cliffs of Fundy; Discovery (2023)