In 1996, faced with significant budget reductions for environmental protection and changing stakeholder expectations, we began the work of redefining our approaches to environmental protection. Program changes Environmental protection is concerned with ensuring that human activity occurs in a way that is compatible with the environment's ability to support and nurture life now and in the future. Human activity can result in ecological damage due to either consumption of resources or the impact of the activity.
Compatibility depends on the nature of the activity and the sensitivity of the impacted environment.
SERM is not, however, solely responsible for resolving these issues. While our mandate remains the same, the focus of our work is shifting. We need to understand ecosystems better. This means working to identify the ecological components at risk and to understand their value to the system as a whole. In addition, we need to search for more effective ways to manage these risks - encouraging sophisticated resource use, preventing and mitigating impacts, restoring damaged ecosystems and minimizing transfers between systems.