Paradise Lost? - Last Stand of the Inland Rainforest
Recent road construction in the upper Goat River has already destroyed one kilometer of the historic Goat River Trail. Photo credit: Jeremy Sean Williams
The Myth of 12%
"Political" science driving artificial limit on protected areas
If your glass were just 12% full, would you say it was full or empty? Is 12% on an essay or exam a pass or fail? Would you cross the street if you had a 12% chance of crossing safely?
The BC government has made much of the fact that just over 12% of the province’s landscape is protected. However, it is widely recognized throughout the scientific community that 12% is not a scientifically defensible threshold to maintain biodiversity. Indeed we lag behind many countries in terms of protected areas.
Biologists concerned with preserving the earth’s remaining biodiversity recognize that between 35% and 50% of the earth needs protection from industrial activity if our natural ecosystems are to survive and if we are to prevent species extinction.(4)
In fact, Dr. Geoff Scudder, Professor Emeritus at UBC’s Centre for Biodiversity Research, has remarked, “The province is saying we have 12% set aside and that’s going to be your area for protecting diversity. But I’m saying it can’t be done. There is no science in the 12%. . . The 12% target for protected areas is arbitrary, scientifically indefensible and insufficient to protect BC’s remarkable biodiversity.”(5)
