Appendix H: Geographies

In Canada, land cover classifications have been established by government (federal, provincial and municipal) and non-government users.

The Ecological Framework of Canada represents a national approach to terrestrial ecosystem classification and mapping based on biophysical characteristics. ¹  At the highest level, this hierarchical classification system includes 15 terrestrial ecozones. These large areas are further broken down into 53 ecoprovinces, 194 ecoregions and 1,021 ecodistricts, each characterized by greater levels of detail.

In addition, Fisheries and Oceans Canada identifies 12 ecoregions for Canada’s three Oceans as part of its biogeographic classification framework for Canadian marine areas. ² 

Canada’s terrestrial ecozones and marine ecoregions are identified in Map 1 (Appendix H).

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Statistics Canada’s Standard Drainage Area Classification (SDAC) 2003 was developed to enable the production of integrated statistics by hydrographic areas (Map 2, Appendix H). It provides a range of geographical units that are convenient for data collection and compilation, and useful for spatial analysis of environmental, economic and social statistics. ³ 

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