The Environmental Studies Research Fund (ESRF) Regions are legally described in Part I and Part II of the Schedule in the Environmental Studies Research Fund Regions Regulations in the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. This data collection is for illustrative purposes only and includes:

• 1 dataset illustrating ESRF prescribed regions 1 to 31 as they are described in the ESRF Regions Regulations.

• 1 dataset illustrating the areas where levies are no longer applied to ESRF prescribed regions. These areas include lands that are described in the ESRF Regions Regulations but have since been devolved to the Government of Yukon or the Government of Northwest Territories as part of the 2003 Yukon Devolution and 2014 Northwest Territories Devolution, respectively. Once the Yukon Act and Northwest Territories Act came into effect, lands subject to devolution were no longer considered frontier lands or Canada lands, and therefore no longer subject to ESRF levies under the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. The geospatial extents used in this dataset represent those identified in the Devolution Agreements. Future updates to Part II, section 3 of the Schedule in the ESRF Regions Regulations will reflect the Yukon and Northwest Territories Devolutions.

• 3 maps (National, North, South).

• 1 table compiling the historical levies for each ESRF prescribed region.

Context:

The Environmental Studies Research Fund (ESRF) is a research program which sponsors environmental and social studies designed to assist in the decision-making process related to oil and gas exploration and development on Canada's frontier lands. The ESRF is directed by a 12-member Management Board which includes representation from the federal government, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB), the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator (CNSOER), the oil and gas industry, and the public. The ESRF is administered by a secretariat which resides in the Offshore Management Division in Natural Resources Canada.

Since 1987, the ESRF has received its legislative mandate through the Canada Petroleum Resources Act. The ESRF regions are described in the Environmental Studies Research Fund Regions Regulations. As well, the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act and the Canada–Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation and Offshore Renewable Energy Management Act provide legislative direction in the southern ESRF regions.

Funding for ESRF is collected annually through levies paid by lease-holding oil and gas companies active in a specific ESRF region. In accordance with the legislation, levies are recommended by the Management Board to the Ministers of Natural Resources and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs for approval. Levies in the southern regions in areas governed by an offshore Accord are subject to final approval by the respective offshore regulator (i.e., the C-NLOPB, or the CNSOER). Levies are calculated by multiplying the levy rate of a region by the number of hectares of land under lease.

The ESRF has sponsored studies on biodiversity; environmental effects and monitoring; social and economic issues; ice, icebergs, and ice detection; oil spill research and countermeasures; sea bottom ice scour; sediment transport; Indigenous Knowledge; and waves.