Last week, I explored how poorly governments of all stripes have been, at all levels, in protecting nature 鈥� and thus in protecting us.
British Columbia is renowned for its forests, Pacific coast and mountains and is often portrayed as a resource-rich province. So one of the tests of any government, you would think, is how well it stewards those resources.
On that basis, every government the province has ever had, as well as every government sa国际传媒 has ever had (since to some extent the jurisdiction over these resources is shared), has been a miserable failure, if not a downright disaster.
In general, they are more interested in protecting industry and the current economic system than in protecting nature and people. This week and next I will explore two examples that exemplify that failure in sa国际传媒: The management of our forests and our fisheries.
In July 2019, the sa国际传媒 government appointed a two-person panel to do a strategic review of the management of sa国际传媒鈥檚 old-growth forests. Their report 鈥� sent to the minister on April 30 but only released Sept. 11 鈥� is damning. They note that an Old Growth Strategy was published by the Ministry of Forests in 1992, but that 鈥渕any critical aspects of the strategy laid out in that report were either discarded or only partly implemented.鈥�
As a result of those repeated failures, the panel reported, we now face three key challenges, the first of which is the 鈥渉igh risk to loss of biodiversity in many ecosystems.鈥� Forest values, they remind us, 鈥済o far beyond just the trees, as forests also contain other plants, insects and animals, many of which require old forest to survive.鈥� Yet they note projections that show 鈥渁lmost all of the province will be in high biodiversity risk once our current management approach harvests most of the available old forest.鈥�
While the panel notes that 鈥渙ld growth鈥� is officially defined in sa国际传媒 鈥渂y the age of trees in a forest using specific thresholds (often more than 250 years on the coast and 140 years in the Interior),鈥� that is a timber-management definition they did not adopt.
Instead, they note that in their discussions with stakeholders 鈥渁 common description was that old growth is original forest in its natural state, not altered by human activity.鈥� And of course, for many, 鈥渙ld growth鈥� means big trees.
These are important distinctions. Based on its forest-management definition, the ministry says that 23 per cent of sa国际传媒鈥檚 forests are old trees. But as the panel states, 鈥渙ld does not necessarily mean big trees,鈥� noting that 鈥渁s much as 80 per cent of the area of old forests consists of relatively small trees growing on lower productivity sites, such as Black Spruce bogs in the North鈥� 鈥� forests that are 鈥渘ot likely to be extensively logged in the foreseeable future.鈥�
Large-tree old-growth forest ecosystems, 鈥渟ites with the potential to grow very large trees cover less than three per cent of the province,鈥� says an independent report released by the Sierra Club of sa国际传媒 in April. But those sites have been intensively harvested, so these ecosystems 鈥渁re almost extinguished and will not recover from logging.鈥�
And, added the Sierra Club, of what remains 鈥渕ost are on the chopping block鈥� as 鈥渆very day more than 500 soccer fields of old-growth forest are clearcut in sa国际传媒鈥�
The strategic review panel recommends a shift from 鈥渁 timber-based focus with ecological health as a constraint鈥� to 鈥渁n ecologically-based focus with timber as one of many benefits.鈥�
To accomplish this they recommend the province 鈥渄eclare the conservation and management of ecosystem health and biodiversity of British Columbia鈥檚 forests as an overarching priority.鈥�
They also recommend the province 鈥渄efer development in old forests where ecosystems are at very high and near-term risk of irreversible biodiversity loss.鈥�
But while the Sierra Club welcomed the panel鈥檚 report, especially its recommendation to defer development, the club notes 鈥渢he sa国际传媒 government has not committed to implementing nor funding the panel鈥檚 recommendations and 鈥� only identified nine areas for immediate deferral.鈥�
It is shameful that it has come to this point, as successive governments have failed to adequately protect our forests. The next government must commit to fully implementing and funding the panel鈥檚 report.
Dr. Trevor Hancock is a retired professor and senior scholar at the University of Victoria鈥檚 School of Public Health and Social Policy.
