Metro Vancouver compiled the region’s first Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory for the year 2009 in response to the need for standardized ecological information to support decision-making. Orthophoto imagery was used to identify polygons and the inventory was subsequently updated using imagery from 2014 and 2020. In alignment with provincial standards, the inventory includes ecologically significant and relatively unmodified sensitive ecosystems (such as wetlands, older forests, and woodlands) and modified ecosystems with high ecological value (such as old fields and young forests). The Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory only includes ecosystems that meet the classification criteria.
Contextual performance measure
Metro 2050 establishes the performance measure as the change in hectares of land identified as a Sensitive or Modified Ecosystem.
Progress
This is a contextual measure. Ecosystem quality changes will be included in the next update to the Sensitive Ecosystem Inventory in 2027 – 2028.