Grants and Contributions

This project aims to implement gender-sensitive designs by the UN Department of Operational Support for infrastructure and accommodations in UN peace operations. This project improves the safety and well-being of women peacekeepers by enhancing environmental factors in the camps, contributing to safer workplaces and more receptive conditions. Improvement to camps will benefit men and women peacekeepers and contribute to their deployment and retention. Also, this will allow uniformed women to participate meaningfully in UN peace operations. Projects activities include: (1) conducting gender-specific assessments of accommodations for selected field missions, based on minimum gender standards; (2) providing technical support to missions on their construction designs, implementation plans, and contracts to improve accommodations to reflect gender needs; (3) refurbishing and/or installing camp accommodations following minimum gender standards; (4) conducting assessments of accommodation in missions and perceptions of women in peace operations before and after camp improvements; and (5) incorporating UN Women’s guide to gender-responsive procurement into all purchases of materials for camp accommodation improvements.

The Habitat StewardshipProgram (HSP) contributes to the recovery of endangered, threatened, and other species of concern, by engaging Canadians in conservation actions to benefit wildlife to protect aquaticspecies at risk.

The Habitat StewardshipProgram (HSP) contributes to the recovery of endangered, threatened, and other species of concern, by engaging Canadians in conservation actions to benefit wildlife to protect aquaticspecies at risk.

To support the participation of Indigenous peoples in activities relating to theconservation and protection of fish and fish habitat, including the development of theDepartment of Fisheries and Oceans' (DFO) policies, program elements and regulationsand the development of their technical capacity to support greater involvement in the conservation and protection of fish and fish habitat.

The purpose of the Small Craft Harbours Class Contribution Program (SCH-CCP) is to support the acquisition, development, construction, improvement or repair as well as the management, maintenance, safety and accessibility of eligible fishing and recreational harbours.

The upper-troposphere and lower-stratosphere (UTLS) is a critical atmospheric region that influences the Earth climate. However, the thermodynamic conditions in this region are insufficiently observed and poorly simulated in current weather and climate models. In this project, we will integrate the measurements of Canadian and international satellites to better understand the distribution of clouds, temperature and water vapor and their co-variabilities in the UTLS region and incorporate the observational constraints in the modeling process to improve the simulations of the Canadian models. The research will help improve Canada's ability of climate and weather prediction and support the development of future satellite missions.

Air pollution regulations have led to dramatic reductions in emissions of CO and NOx, but studies using atmospheric observations to quantify these reductions produce a wide range of emission estimates. The proposed project will use a multi-model and multi-sensor approach to quantify potential sources of discrepancies that contribute to uncertainty in the emission estimates. The project will focus on using space-based measurements to better quantify emissions of CO globally and of NOx in North America. Improved estimates of the emissions of CO and NOx are critical for assessing the effectiveness of air pollution regulations.

Despite the success of the Montreal Protocol in phasing out ozone depleting substances, lower stratospheric ozone continues to decrease. Currently it is not clear, if this ongoing decrease is related to so far unexplored chemical effects or to changes in the atmospheric circulation, the large-scale movement of air by which ozone is redistributed. The proposed project will use satellite measurements from OSIRIS and ACE-FTS in combination with simulations from the Canadian Earth system model to understand lower stratospheric ozone changes and driving forces. Based on the improved understanding, predictions of ozone recovery in the lower stratosphere will be produced.

Data from two Canadian space-based instruments will be utilized to investigate our changing atmosphere and to improve our ability to simulate these changes with atmospheric models. In one activity, we will focus on understanding how to best simulate the injection and dispersal of wildfire pollution in the atmosphere including its year-to-year variation. In a second activity, we will examine how different models describe greenhouse gases that are also air pollutants. For the third activity, we will assess the quality of space-based measurements of greenhouse gases and air pollutants and evaluate how well models simulate these important gases.

Canada's boreal forest is forecast to experience changes in precipitation, evaporation, and temperature due to climate change. This will lead to changes in the frequency and intensity of drought and wildfire. Large-area peatland soil moisture monitoring is required to improve our understanding of the carbon cycle, predict the locations of drought-driven wildfires in the boreal forest, and provide better estimates to air quality forecasts. Through the analysis of space-based data, this research will enhance our understanding of the physical processes of drought and wildfire in the boreal forest, and lead to an ability to predict the risk of wildfire.