Census of Environment: Human landscape modification index, 2020

Statistics Canada's Census of Environment program has released two tables on ecosystem integrity (38-10-0195 and 38-10-0196) that include data on the human landscape modification index (HLMI) for 2020. These tables present information by ecological and drainage area geographies, which are based on the Ecological Land Classification and the Standard Drainage Area Classification.

The HLMI integrates data on land use, land cover, linear features, and natural and semi-natural area patch characteristics. It provides a relative measure of the degree of direct landscape modifications across areas of the country using a scale of 0 to 100. A higher HLMI score indicates more landscape modification, and a lower HLMI score indicates lower rates of direct modification.

The HLMI geospatial file maps results of the HLMI at a 30-metre resolution, showing how much the landscape has been directly modified.

The Census of Environment reports on ecosystems in Canada, providing information to help Canadians make evidence-based decisions to protect and enhance the environment. The program follows the internationally accepted environmental–economic standard for producing information on ecosystems' extent, their condition and the services they provide.

For more information, see Canadian System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounts (5331).