Acknowledgements

Human Activity and the Environment 2013 was prepared by the Environment Accounts and Statistics Division under the direction of Robert Smith^1,2,3 (Director) and Carolyn Cahill² (Acting Director). François Soulard^1,2 was the project manager, Jennie Wang¹ was the editor and Michelle Tait managed production.

Major contributions to the writing and analysis were made by:

Thanks to the following people and services for their support in the areas of conceptual and technical development, map creation, data tabulation and verification, translation and dissemination:

We are indebted to those who have taken time to review and discuss this work. The following individuals provided input throughout the course of the MEGS project:

Zeba Ali (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Judi Beck² (Natural Resources Canada), Barbara Best¹ (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Stefanie Bowles^1,3 (Policy Horizons Canada), Daniel Burnett¹ (Natural Resources Canada), Chiew Chong¹ (Environment Canada), Jeff Dechka¹ (Natural Resources Canada), Cindy De Cuypere, Robert Elliott² (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Jeff Fritzsche, ZuZu Gadallah (Environment Canada), Céo Gaudet^1,2 (Environment Canada), Martine Giangioppi (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Marcelle Grenier^1,3 (Environment Canada), Ole Hendrickson^1,3 (Environment Canada), Derek Hermanutz² (Environment Canada), Christian Houle² (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Laura Kemp, Sheldon Lambert (Parks Canada), Andre Loranger,^2,3 Cecilia Lougheed (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), Bob MacGregor^1,2 (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Sherri MacLeod^1,3 (Environment Canada), John Marshall, Aurelie Mogan (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Dan Mulrooney^1,2 (Parks Canada), Dennis O’Farrell¹ (Environment Canada), Jean Poitevin (Parks Canada), Susan Preston¹ (Environment Canada), Troy Riche² (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Kami Ramcharan^2,3 (Natural Resources Canada), Art Ridgeway,^2,3 Valerie Sexton¹ (Environment Canada), Mohammad Shakeri¹ (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Joe St. Lawrence, Jim Tebrake,² Greg Strain² (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada), Stéphanie Uhde (Institut de la Statistique du Québec), Judy Watling^2,3 (Policy Horizons Canada), Tony Young^2,3 (Environment Canada)

The support and co-operation of the following federal departments is also gratefully acknowledged:

The MEGS project was a collaborative effort between Statistics Canada and the above departments. The objectives of the project were to research, consolidate data and build knowledge on ecosystems and ecosystem goods and services in Canada; to study alternatives for assessing and tracking ecosystem quality; and to assemble the information required to support the process of valuation. These objectives were accomplished by investigating spatial standards and classifications, standardizing existing spatial data, developing pilot ecosystem accounts, and investigating methods for valuation of ecosystem goods and services.

This issue of Human Activity and the Environment contains a compilation of selected results from these activities. As such, it is a compendium of interdisciplinary research initiatives focused on improving our understanding of the value of ecosystem goods and services through ecosystem accounting. We proudly publish these results in recognition of the International Year of Statistics.

This work would not have been possible without the generous financial contribution from the Policy Research Data Group of Policy Horizons Canada.

1. MEGS Working Committee member
2. MEGS Steering Committee member
3. Former committee member