05/08/2023
Good news! Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Weiler has introduced a federal motion that launches an enhanced BC old-growth protection fund of $82 million, increased from the original $50 million - contingent on matching BC funds, that would bring the total to $164 million - along with a much larger, federal-provincial BC Nature Fund of several hundred million dollars more to expand protected areas in general in BC (which we're still waiting on as negotiations continue between the federal and provincial governments and First Nations).
In the Great Bear Rainforest, $120 million was indispensable to help ensure the legislated protection of over 2 million hectares (an area 2/3rds the size of Vancouver Island, or triple the size of Banff National Park), so $164 million will be no small deal on the ground.
The motion also calls for an end to the international export of old-growth raw logs and wood products from across Canada, and to prohibit old-growth destruction on federal lands.
Weiler, the MP for West Vancouver - Sea to Sky - Sunshine Coast, should be commended for his leadership here, and his motion fits with Biden's initiative to potentially end old-growth logging on US federal lands (see https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/biden-launches-process-for-protecting-mature-old-growth-forests-on-federal-lands-2022-04-22/ ) and Weiler is helping to lead the way towards a similar initiative in Canada.
Funding for First Nations capacity, stewardship and economic development is an indispensable component to protect old-growth forests in BC. Old-growth forests across BC are on the unceded territories of diverse First Nations, whose consent is a legal necessity for the establishment of new protected areas on Crown / unceded First Nations lands (ie. the provincial government legally cannot unilaterally just protect old-growth forests in BC – the support of the local First Nations is a necessity, and the province should and must undertake the needed policy framework and provide key funding as part of the “enabling conditions” to facilitate interested First Nations to establish new protected areas).
Across BC, many or most First Nations have a major economic dependency on timber revenues and jobs, including on old-growth logging, and conservation financing funds from government and conservation groups are vital to ensure an alternative sustainable economy in the communities based on tourism, clean energy, sustainable seafood, non-timber forest products, value-added sustainable second-growth forestry, etc linked to new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area initiatives (typically legislated via Provincial Conservancy or other Protected Area designations in BC), such as the amazing Kanaka Bar IPCA and the Mowachaht/ Muchalaht Salmon Parks initiative in BC that we're supporting.
Read details on the federal motion here:
https://www.endangeredecosystemsalliance.org/news/2023/5/5/mp-introduces-motion-for-old-growth
And please SEND a MESSAGE to protect old-growth forests in BC at: https://www.endangeredecosystemsalliance.org/news/bc-needs-an-effective-federal-provincial-nature-agreement
Photo: A giant western redcedar near the Nootka Trail on western Vancouver Island in Mowachaht/ Muchalaht territory west of Tahsis and Gold River on Nootka Island. Photo by TJ Watt.
