British Columbia's Endangered Forests
What government and industry aren't telling you
At the start of the 21st century we are faced with the sobering reality that only 22% of the world's original forest remains.Three countriesussia, Canada and Brazil - hold 70% of that forest, and the accompanying responsibility to future generations.
In Canada, the western-most province of British Columbia (BC) is the most biologically rich and ecologically diverse province. It is famous for holding one quarter of the world's ancient temperate rainforest and is home to other equally endangered though less famous forest types (see inside). BC exports nearly half of Canada's pulp and wood products.
94% of BC is publicly owned and managed by the provincial government, although unsettled native land title cases cover the landscape. 45 million hectares (~112 million acres) of forest cloak BC, about half of which is considered "operable." The majority of forests have been allocated through long term licences, such as Tree Farm Licences and Forest Licences, mostly controlled by a few large corporations. Cutting levels are unsustainably high: we are cutting too much, much too fast.
In the late 1980s, conservation groups began campaigning in earnest for the protection of BC's rapidly diminishing old-growth forests and biodiversity In 1991 the provincial government committed to expanding the amount of `protected areas' to 12%. A decade later, while the area of land protected has increased, forest ecosystems throughout the province are at even greater risk.
The signs of ecosystem deterioration should be a clear warning to decision-makers
Despite political boasts, BC has not set a"global example" in protecting endangered forests.The 12% protected area goal has been shown to be political rather than scientific in origin, and thus is incapable of protecting a wide array of plant and animal life.
Consider that nearly one quarter of all Alpine Tundra areas are in parks, while the most biologically important forests remain open to industrial development. Nine of the province's 14 distinct ecological zones have far less than 12% protection. It's telling that the lowest level of protection - only 2.7% protected - is afforded to the increasingly rare but commercially valuable coastal Douglas-fir forests.
At these woefully inadequate levels fully half the wildlife species in our endangered forests will be lost. The northern spotted owl is heading rapidly for extirpation; 142 salmon runs have gone extinct in BC and the Yukon; ongoing logging and fragmentation of old-growth forest breeding habitat has put three warbler species of north-east BC on the endangered species list; and grizzly bears no longer occur in south-central BC.
Meanwhile, accelerating loss of unprotected primary and old-growth forests is foreclosing our ability to turn things around. For the last decade, cash-strapped provincial governments have stepped up their aggressive assault on our forests. The amount timber corporations are allowed to cut has increased well beyond sustainable levels while simultaneously both the laws and the civil servants that are needed to monitor whether the public interest is being served in our forests have been drastically cut. A more ominous move is a host of recent legislative changes that privatize access and oversight of both protected and unprotected public lands.
This is certain to fuel renewed markets campaigns by conservation groups, campaigns that in the past won conservation gains in Clayoquot Sound and the Great Bear Rainforest. Already, some of the world's largest retailers, including Home Depot and Staples, have stated they intend to stop buying products that originate from endangered forests. And hundreds of other companies have similar policies. Timber companies and the BC government can avoid costly future clashes in the marketplace by demonstrating support for protection of endangered forests.
How do we make a transition to a conservation economy? We commit to sustainable land-uses that are decided and implemented by the people who are most directly affected by those decisions: rural communities am First Nations. To realize this we need to use new economic models based on adding value rather than extracting and exporting raw resources.
Changes like this are already underway in BC's Great Bear Rainforest, when a historic agreement could lead to permanent protection of millions of hectares of globally unique temperate rainforest. Outside protected areas, ecosystem-based management will drive a true conservation-based economy, includ ing new economic opportunities for First Nations. Protected areas and forest practices that truly protect biodiversity are necessary across BC, if we are to meet 21st century expectations, which no longer accept environmental destruction and species extinction as a part of business practices. Only then can BC rightfully claim to have set a "global example."
Where Does BC Stand?
BC Lags Behind Many Countries in Protected Areas Where single asterisks appear beside numbers, the countries have further protected lands since 1997. The figure for BC represents the area protected as of 2001. Source: International Union for the Conservation of Nature (1997).
37 % |
20 % |
16 % |
15 % |
14 % |
13% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Denmark | Botswana | Antigua | Bolivia | British Columbia |
| - | Ecuador | Chile | Israel | Costa Rica* | Sri Lanka |
| - | Norway | New Zealand* | Tanzania* | Rwanda | - |
| - | Belize | Panama | - | Thailand | - |
| - | Bhutan | Slovakia | - | - | - |
| - | Brunei | - | - | - | - |
