November 3, 2023
By Ainslie Cruickshank
The Narwhal
See the original article.
The tripartite nature agreement comes with new and old funding to protect old-growth forests, species at risk.
Federal, provincial and First Nations leaders gathered against the backdrop of Burrard Inlet Friday to announce a long-awaited nature agreement that promises further protections for old-growth forests and at-risk species.
The agreement, which runs through March 2030, comes with $1 billion in joint federal-provincial funding — some of which has already been announced — including $50 million from Ottawa to permanently protect 1.3 million hectares of “high priority” old-growth forests in BC.
Premier David Eby called it a “historic partnership.”
“We are so excited because it will enable us to fast track our old-growth protection work, it will enable us to protect habitat for species that are at-risk in our province,” he said.
The agreement — signed by the provincial and federal governments and the First Nations Leadership Council — also includes commitments to support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, conserve enough old forest habitat to support the recovery of 250 spotted owls and restore 140,000 hectares of degraded habitat within the next two years.
“This is a major, major agreement on protecting nature,” Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault told The Narwhal ahead of Friday’s announcement.
“I think people will look at this agreement and say, ‘OK, this is how it needs to be done going forward now in Canada,’ ” he said. “It’s nature, it’s conservation, it’s restoration, but it’s also about reconciliation.”
Recovery of endangered species, such as caribou and spotted owls, is one of the key goals of the new nature agreement. Photo: Ryan Dickie / The Narwhal
The governments have committed to working with Indigenous Rights holders to implement the agreement in a way that’s consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“Fundamentally, we need to be a part of the decision-making process,” Terry Teegee, the Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said during Friday’s announcement.
“We have a sacred duty to do our utmost to protect the land, to nurture the land, and this agreement serves that purpose,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said. “It’s the right thing to do for our grandchildren and future generations.”
Conservation groups welcome new agreement to protect nature amid unprecedented biodiversity decline
Ken Wu, the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, called the new agreement a “huge leap forward to supercharge the expansion of the protected area system in British Columbia.”
Dedicated funding is crucial for enabling Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, he said.
But one thing he will be watching for moving forward are ecosystem-based protection targets, to ensure conservation of the highest risk ecosystems.
The agreement comes at a critical time for nature globally. Biodiversity is declining with unprecedented speed and scientists warn the world could be in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event. One million species are at risk of disappearing, according to a 2019 global assessment. Others have already been lost.
In Canada alone, 5,000 species — such as the western sandpiper, blue whale, eastern prickly-pear cactus and the Vancouver marmot — are at some risk of extinction, according to a comprehensive survey of the country’s biodiversity.
Habitat destruction from clearcut logging, mining, oil and gas extraction and expansive urban development is a driving force behind biodiversity loss, but climate change, invasive species and over-hunting and fishing are also major contributors.
Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework signed at COP15 in December 2022, Canada and 195 other countries agreed to take urgent action to stem nature losses, including by conserving 30 per cent of land and waters by 2030.
But Canada would be hard-pressed to meet its commitments without the support of provinces, territories and Indigenous nations.
Through nature agreements, the federal government is offering major funding injections for provinces and territories that agree to stronger conservation action. The first, a $20.6 million agreement with the Yukon, was announced at COP15.
The BC agreement comes after three years of negotiations between the federal and provincial government and one year of trilateral negotiations with the First Nations Leadership Council, which comprises the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and the First Nations Summit.
Provincial funding for the agreement comes through existing programs and initiatives, including modernized land use planning, forest landscape planning and the new conservation financing mechanism announced last week. At least $104 million of federal funding for restoration is being allocated through the federal government’s initiative to plant two billion trees over ten years.
Jens Wieting, a senior forest and climate campaigner at Sierra Club BC, said the BC nature agreement has “all the ingredients to speed up progress” towards meeting the 2030 targets, but “it must translate to change on the ground.”
‘Nothing else can put this new agreement to the test as the spotted owl can’
BC has made significant commitments to both protect 30 per cent of land in the province by 2030 and also to transform the way decisions about land and natural resources are made.
But internal government records show the province also saw the nature agreement as a way to avoid direct federal intervention to protect at-risk species. Though it rarely uses it, the federal government has authority under the Species At Risk Act to intervene in provincial land use decisions to protect at-risk species and has been urged to do so in the case of spotted owls.
Spotted owls were listed as endangered under the act 20 years ago and yet the old-growth forests they depend on are still logged today.
Guilbeault recommended the federal government issue an emergency order this year to protect critical spotted owl habitat, but the BC government lobbied against it and ultimately the federal cabinet chose not to issue the order.
The new nature agreement commits the governments to finalizing a spotted owl recovery strategy and protecting enough of the raptor’s old-growth forest habitat to one day support 250 owls in the wild. Additionally, it lays out commitments to increase capacity for BC’s captive breeding program and efforts to control barred owl numbers.
“We’re putting money on the table, the BC government is putting money on the table,” Guilbeault said. “I think that’s a significant change from where we were 20, 10 or even five years ago,” he said.
Following the press conference, Spuzzum First Nation Chief James Hobart said “nothing else can put this new agreement to the test as the spotted owl can.”
“They’re really important to us,” he said. “When we see a spotted owl, sometimes we think of it as somebody that’s passed on.”
“When you only see one around, it’s not really a good indicator of our messengers,” he said.
The spotted owl, he said, should determine where logging can and can’t happen. And if a First Nation says it doesn’t want logging in its territory, it should be “a no go zone,” Hobart said. “We should not have to have that discussion more than once,” he said.
‘Legal gaps’ leave nature vulnerable as BC develops new biodiversity policy framework
Alongside efforts to recover endangered species such as the spotted owl, the nature agreement lays out commitments to address threats to species early on by identifying and protecting critical habitat to prevent crisis-level population declines.
These early actions could help avoid the need to list species under the federal Species at Risk Act, the agreement says.
That’s a concern for Charlotte Dawe, conservation and policy campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
“If we’re not listing species that need to be listed, that’s an issue,” she said. Those decisions should be science-based, not determined by whether the government is already taking recovery actions or by potential impacts on industry, she said.
One of the long-standing conservation challenges in BC is the piecemeal approach the province has taken to protecting at-risk species.
Conservation groups say it’s not working. A report last year from the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club BC found “huge legal gaps” are driving species loss and urged the province to develop a new law that prioritizes ecosystem health and protects species at risk.
The Forest Practices Board, meanwhile, showed BC is failing to use even the tools it already has at its disposal to protect at-risk species’ critical habitat in a report released this summer. The report found, for instance, the province hasn’t updated its legal list of species at risk since 2006, meaning it can’t use tools under the Forest and Range Practices Act to protect numerous species scientists consider to be under threat.
BC has committed to overhauling the way it manages land and is working with First Nations to develop a new biodiversity and ecosystem health framework, a draft of which is expected to be released for public consultation this year.
But critics worry the promised transformation is taking too long to materialize, as old-growth forests continue to fall.
And while the new nature agreement outlines ambitious commitments, Victoria Watson, a lawyer with the environmental law charity Ecojustice, notes the agreement itself isn’t legally binding.
“Law and regulations that hold Canada and BC accountable to some of the commitments that have been outlined in the agreement are really essential,” she said. As is a “willingness on the part of Canada and BC to really share authority on the ground with First Nations.”
In the short-term, Watson said she’ll be looking for “immediate action on the ground,” including new old-growth logging deferrals.
Guilbeault said old-growth forests were “at the heart” of nature agreement discussions.
Finalizing the agreement is an “extremely positive step,” he said, one that should see tens of millions of dollars in federal funding actually flowing to the BC government and First Nations to support conservation.
“My hope,” Guilbeault said, is “especially on species at risk and old-growth that we can move as quickly as possible because obviously it’s a matter of some urgency.”
Updated Nov. 3, 2023, at 2:55 p.m. PT: This story has been updated to include quotes from the nature agreement announcement and reactions to it.
See the original article.
The Guardian: “The nature cure: how time outdoors transforms our memory, imagination and logic”
/in News CoverageNovember 27, 2023
The Guardian
By Sam Pyrah
See the original article.
Without engaging with natural environments, our brains cease to work well. As the new field of environmental neuroscience proves, exposure to nature isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity
It’s a grey November day; rain gently pocks the surface of the tidal pools. There is not much to see in this East Sussex nature reserve – a few gulls, a little grebe, a solitary wader on the shore – but already my breathing has slowed to the rhythm of the water lapping the shingle, my shoulders have dropped and I feel imbued with a sense of calm.
I’m far from alone in finding the antidote to modern life in nature. “It’s only when I’m outdoors and attentive to the wild things around me that my mind holds still,” says James Gilbert, an ecologist from Northamptonshire. Despite his job, it is not visits to nature reserves boasting rare species that provide what he describes as a “mental reset” – “simply the everyday encounters I chance upon in my daily life. These touches of wildness freshen my mind, broaden my perspective and lift my spirits.”
Such testimonies to the power of nature are nothing new. What is new is the emerging field of environmental neuroscience, which seeks to explore why – and how – our brains are so profoundly affected by being in nature.
You are probably aware of studies showing that green (vegetated) and blue (moving water) environments are associated with a reduction in stress, improved mood, more positive emotions and decreases in anxiety and rumination. But there is growing evidence that nature exposure also benefits cognitive function – all the processes involved in gaining knowledge and understanding, including perception, memory, reasoning, judgment, imagination and problem-solving. One study found that after just 40 seconds of looking out at a green roof, subjects made fewer mistakes in a test than when they looked at a concrete one.
Dr Marc Berman, director of the Environmental Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago, taxed subjects’ brains with a test known as the backwards digit-span task, requiring them to repeat back sequences of numbers in reverse order. Then he sent them for a 50-minute walk, in either an urban setting (a town centre) or a nature setting (a park). On their return, they repeated the task. “Performance improved by about 20% when participants had walked in nature, but not when they had walked in an urban environment,” he says.
The brain boost from being in nature goes beyond getting answers right in a test, according to Prof Kathryn Williams, an environmental psychologist at the University of Melbourne. “Research has consistently demonstrated enhanced creativity after immersion in natural environments,” she says. One study found that a four-day hike (with no access to phones or other technology) increased participants’ creativity by 50%. (If you’re wondering how you can put a number on creativity, that study used the Remote Associates Test, widely used as a measure of creative thinking, insight and problem-solving. Subjects are given three words and have to come up with a word that links them. For example, Big, Cottage, Cake = Cheese.)
What might be going on here? According to the biophilia hypothesis popularised by the American sociobiologist EO Wilson, humans function better in natural environments because our brains and bodies evolved in, and with, nature. “Biophilia makes a lot of sense,” says Dr David Strayer, a cognitive neuroscientist who heads the Applied Cognition Laboratory at the University of Utah. “As hunter-gatherers, those who were most attuned to the natural environment were the most likely to survive. But then we built all this infrastructure. We are trying to use the hunter-gatherer brain to live in the highly stressful and demanding modern world.”
It’s not that life as a hunter-gatherer was easy, of course. But, says Strayer, the fight-or-flight response that we evolved to deal with it is ill-suited to the way we live now. “Most of the stress we encounter today does not require a physical response, but still evokes the same physiological reaction – raised cortisol levels, increased heart rate and alertness – which can impact immune and cardiovascular function, as well as memory, mood and attention.”
Exposure to nature activates the parasympathetic nervous system – the branch of the nervous system related to a “resting” state. This instils feelings of calm and wellbeing that enable us to think more clearly and positively, just as I experienced on my harbourside walk.
One recent theory proposes that oxytocin (the “bonding” hormone) may be behind the phenomenon, exerting its powerful antistress and restorative effects when we are in natural settings that we perceive as safe, pleasing, calm and familiar.
But if its capacity to make us “feel better” were the sole pathway through which nature affected the brain, it would only work if you regard being in nature as a positive experience. Those siding with Woody Allen when he said “I love nature; I just don’t want to get any of it on me” would not experience a brain boost. However, research by Berman and others suggests that improvements in cognitive function are not linked to improved mood.
Berman got his subjects to walk at different times of the year. “Even in January, when it was zero degrees outside and people didn’t enjoy the nature walk, they still experienced performance improvements in the test,” he says. “They didn’t need to ‘like’ the nature exposure to reap the cognitive benefits.”
Another explanation for the nature boost is something known as attention restoration theory (ART). Psychologists call the capacity to sustain focus on a specific mental task, ignoring external distractions (such as your phone) and internal ones (such as your rumbling belly), “directed attention”. And according to ART, it is a finite resource.
“The areas of the brain responsible for this kind of attention can become depleted by multitasking and high-stimulation modern environments,” explains Williams. When that happens, we can’t concentrate, we make mistakes and get stuck on problems. “But there is something about nature that engages the brain in a way that’s very undemanding and effortless, giving these areas an opportunity to rest and recover.”
It’s not that natural settings don’t have lots of stimuli, but the attention they capture is indirect and spontaneous – we are drawn by the movement of a bird or the sound of our feet padding on fallen leaves. This gentle attendance to our surroundings is known as “soft fascination”, and while we are immersed in it, directed attention can be restored. Maybe that’s why I often find myself recording voice notes, or tapping ideas into my phone, after spending time in nature.
Excitingly, neuroimaging tools such as electroencephalograms and functional magnetic resonance imaging are helping researchers to glimpse the changes in our brains in real time. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), for example, uses something known as Bold – blood-oxygen-level-dependent imaging – to determine which areas of the brain are most active during exposure to different stimuli. (Like muscles, the more active parts require more oxygenated blood.) Studies have revealed a drop in the Bold signal in the prefrontal cortex (an important brain structure in executive function) during nature exposure, supporting the idea that this part of the brain is “off duty” at the time. It has also been shown that a greater number of brain areas are activated when viewing urban scenes, suggesting more effort is required to process them.
The drawback with fMRI is that it requires you to lie still, ruling out real-life nature experiences – which is why Berman is excited about his newest tool, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). “We have some idea of what the brain looks like when it is working hard,” he says. “But fNIRS enables us to shine infrared light into the brain of a person as they walk through different environments to see whether it is working harder or easier.”
“We’re not trying to create a nature pill,” Berman insists, pointing to research that shows exposure to “real-world” nature yields greater improvements in mood and aspects of cognitive performance. “We are looking at why we build things the way that we do. Now, it’s all about efficiency. But we could be thinking instead about creating a built environment that elicits the best attention, high levels of wellbeing, cooperation – we could be putting natural elements into streets, offices, schools, homes. And don’t forget that not everybody has access to nature.”
Regardless of access issues, most of us spend very little time in nature. A government survey last year found that a quarter of people hadn’t visited a green or natural space once in the previous 14 days. And yet, as the BMJ reported in 2021, greater contact with nature is associated with better cognition, working memory, spatial memory attention, visual attention, reasoning, fluency, intelligence and childhood intellectual development.
“This growing body of research is demonstrating that we can’t be healthy – that our brains do not work optimally – if we don’t spend time in natural environments,” says Berman. “It’s not a luxury – it’s a necessity.”
How to make the most of nature
Aim for at least 30 minutes. According to cognitive neuroscientist David Strayer, this is the duration needed for measurable benefits to accrue. Longer-term experiences (Strayer talks of the “three-day effect”) have additional benefits.
Forgo the tech. “If you’re focusing on your watch or phone, or wearing headphones, you aren’t engaging with your environment,” says Strayer.
Get your timing right. One study found that the boost to cognition lasted 30 minutes after leaving the natural setting, which may help you plan the best time for mentally demanding work.
Choose your venue. Not all natural environments are equal. “You want to be somewhere pleasant and engaging,” says Prof Kathryn Williams, an environmental psychologist at the University of Melbourne. “A sense of safety is paramount to positive experiences in nature, including attention restoration, stress reduction and mind wandering. A feeling of ‘being away’ – a sense of psychological distance from the things that burden you – is also important.”
WATCH: BC forest plan draft hailed by conservationists
/in News CoverageNovember 23, 2023
Global News BC
By Paul Johnson
See this video interview with Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu, discussing the BC government’s recent “unprecedented leaps forward” over the past month with its release of the draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework in tandem with the BC Nature Agreement.
Watch the video here.
It’s being described as a “game changer” in efforts to protect BC’s old-growth forests. As Paul Johnson reports, conservationists are welcoming a draft plan from the provincial government that would not only consider the economic but also the ecological value of our forests.
Support ancient forests this Giving Tuesday!
/in Announcements, Events, Take ActionYear after year, we’re so grateful to our community of supporters who choose to donate to the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA). Giving Tuesday (a global day where people give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity) is just a week away on November 28th. Consider supporting old-growth forest protection as part of our Giving Tuesday campaign, running from Tuesday, November 21 until Friday, December 1, 2023!
Will you help us reach our goal of $20,000?
Yes! I’ll donate!
Because of YOUR support, we’ve seen more significant shifts over the past couple of months than we’ve seen in years toward the protection of old-growth forests in BC. Many of our asks have been answered and much of the funding we’ve been calling for has arrived!
More than $1 billion in provincial-federal funding has been allocated to help achieve BC’s 30% by 2030 nature protection, conservation, and restoration goals with the launch of the BC Nature Agreement. Securing large-scale conservation financing has been a central focus of our organization for many years now and we’re thrilled to see this arrive! Following on its heels, the BC government released its draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework that, if done right, could ensure a major paradigm shift to safeguard the most endangered and least protected ecosystems, such as big-treed old-growth forests. Together, these have the potential to protect much of the incredible ancient forests we’ve been fighting for!
This huge progress has been made possible by people like you who’ve spoken up and supported our campaign efforts over the years, so THANK YOU!
With Giving Tuesday coming up in just one week on November 28th, here are two ways you can support AFA this year.
1. Give a monthly or one-time donation to the Ancient Forest Alliance
As a small charitable organization, our work is driven by donations from individuals like you. By making a monthly or one-time donation, you’ll help us carry out critical work including supporting First Nations partners in developing Indigenous Protected Area proposals that protect old-growth, exploring and documenting endangered forests, and building and strengthening relationships with non-traditional allies to create a broad-based movement of support for ancient forest protection. We acknowledge times are challenging for many right now, so any amount helps. Plus, all donations are now tax-deductible!
Give to ancient forests here!
2. Join us for our Year-End Celebration & Fundraiser!
This year we’ll be celebrating our successes on Giving Tuesday itself! We’d love to see you at Victoria Event Centre on Tuesday, November 28th from 6–9 pm for a fun-filled evening to celebrate a monumental year for the old-growth campaign.
This is a night for our supporters to get to know the AFA team, connect with other supporters, donors, and volunteers, and enjoy a presentation from AFA campaigner and photographer TJ Watt and researcher Ian Thomas.
There will be a silent auction with loads of fabulous items from local businesses such as Robinson’s Outdoors, Botanical Bliss, Patagonia, ecologyst, The Papery, Bolen Books, Barbara Brown Art, Seaflora Skincare, Jordan Fritz Art, and more. There will also be appies and refreshments, a cash bar, and AFA merchandise for sale, so don’t miss out! All funds raised go toward protecting the endangered old-growth forests in BC and ensuring a sustainable second-growth forest industry.
Thank you for spreading your generosity to ancient forests this Giving Tuesday. Together, we can give back to the ancient forests that give so much to us.
Save The Date! AFA’s Year-End Celebration & Fundraiser is Tuesday, November 28th
/in Announcements, EventsMark your calendars! We’re excited to announce that we’ll be hosting our Year-End Celebration and Fundraiser on Giving Tuesday this year. Join us at the Victoria Event Centre (1415 Broad St) on Tuesday, November 28th, 6–9 pm for a fun-filled evening to celebrate a monumental year for the old-growth campaign.
This is a night for our supporters to get to know the AFA team, connect with other supporters, donors, and volunteers, and enjoy a presentation from AFA campaigner & photographer TJ Watt and researcher Ian Thomas.
There will be a silent auction with loads of fabulous items from local businesses such as Robinson’s Outdoors, Botanical Bliss, Patagonia, ecologyst, The Papery, Bolen Books, Barbara Brown Art, Seaflora Skincare, and more. There will also be appies and refreshments, a cash bar, and AFA merchandise for sale, so don’t miss out!
All funds raised go toward protecting the endangered old-growth forests in BC and ensuring a sustainable second-growth forest industry.
Schedule:
5:45: Doors open, refreshments & socializing
6:30: Slideshow presentation by Campaigner & Photographer, TJ Watt and Research & Engagement Officer, Ian Thomas
7:45: Meet and greet, and fantastic silent auction fundraiser featuring select prints from TJ as well as an array of other amazing items from local businesses
8:45: Silent auction winners announced
9:00: Wrap up
Tickets:
Fixed price of $10 (not tax deductible). Available online (until NOON on November 28th), at the door, or call us at 250-896-4007. If there are any financial barriers to attending, please contact us at info@staging.ancientforestalliance.org or call 250-896-4007. Tax-deductible donations can be added to cart at checkout!
Save the date in your calendars and scoop up your tickets today!
Accessibility:
The Victoria Event Centre currently does have an operational elevator or there is one long flight of stairs at the venue entrance. If you would like to attend the event but require assistance accessing the space, please contact us ahead of the event and/or text or call Joan at 250-213-1674 when you arrive and we will direct you.
We respectfully acknowledge that this event is taking place on the unceded territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən People, known today as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations.
CBC Radio — “On The Island with Gregor Craigie”: Interview with Ken Wu
/in News CoverageNovember 16, 2023
CBC Radio: On the Island with Gregor Craigie
Listen to this stellar interview with Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu, who speaks about the significance of the BC government’s recently released draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework.
Listen to the full interview, or view the transcript below:
Gregor Craigie:
Another piece of the province’s plan to protect endangered old-growth forests was announced yesterday. The new draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework follows last month’s creation of a $300 million fund to purchase and protect natural spaces as parks or protected areas.
BC Water, Land and Resource Stewardship Minister Nathan Cullen says the latest initiatives will help the province protect 30% of its land base by the year 2030. For more on the significance of the biodiversity framework, we’re joined by Ken Wu, Executive Director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance. Ken, good morning.
Ken Wu:
Thanks for having me on.
Gregor:
Thanks for joining us. First of all, what exactly is a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework? It’s a long title. And how is it a significant development for delivering the government’s promise to protect old growth?
Ken:
So this is a potentially revolutionary game-changer for conservation in Canada. Ff it comes out right, it will essentially target protection and conservation measures for the most endangered and least represented ecosystems in British Columbia. Ecosystem-based protection targets are what have been lacking not only in British Columbia but across most of the world. So it’ll essentially save the big trees instead of primarily saving alpine and sub alpine areas with small trees or no trees, as it is typically being the history of protected areas in BC.
It’s a huge game changer if it comes out right when it’s finalized in a few months.
Gregor:
So if I hear you correctly, Ken, it sounds like it’s recognizing quality rather than just quantity. You’re not just counting old trees but looking at the the quality and the age and location, and so on, of them.
Ken:
That’s right. So basically, BC has got a target to protect 30% of its land area by 2030. But if you don’t have specificity for the diversity of ecosystems with protection targets for them, then what happens, what has always been happening, and which will continue to happen, if this doesn’t land right, is saving the areas with low to no timber values.
The dominant paradigm, the paradigm that is supposed to be shifted as a result of the government’s Old Growth Strategic Review panel. The dominant paradigm has basically been to minimize impacts on the available timber supply for the logging industry from any conservation measures.
This [framework] turns [the old paradigm] on its head. It basically says that first, you have to conserve and protect the diversity of ecosystems that also includes the the areas that have been most coveted by industry. If the government does this, it is really a huge game changer.
Gregor:
Ok. And how does this draft framework fit in potentially with last month’s announcement from the province of this $300 million for conservation financing for endangered ecosystems?
Ken:
So the combination of the province’s $300 million conservation financing announcement with 1.1 billion of the Federal Provincial Nature Agreement is basically the fuel; it powers up the expansion of the protected area system by supporting First Nations in their initiatives for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) (is a bit of a mouthful) as well as for land acquisition for a diversity of approaches to protect ecosystems.
It basically means not only are you going to expand protected areas but you’ll place them in the places, hopefully that are the most impacted by industry and the least represented in the existing protected areas system.
Gregor:
So it targets protection to where it really needs to go, and forgive me if it’s obvious Ken, but has the work of identifying where needs to be targeted first and, you know, prioritizing those targets — has that been done?
Ken:
It’s probably been done through the Technical Advisory Panel, that’s the government’s science panel that it struck up a couple of years ago to identify the most at-risk old growth, but that’s an old-growth focused panel.
We want to make sure the province doesn’t jettison its results because there are some in the bureaucracy that try to creep away from that. But there needs to be a bigger set of analysis that has to be done. [The government is] going to be appointing a Chief Biodiversity Officer who will then strike up science teams, Traditional Ecological Knowledge committees, and First Nations committees to then build targets to span the diversity of ecosystems.
Now, the issue is whether or not it will have a fine enough filter because if [the government] doesn’t target ecosystems, specifically enough there, then you still have the loopholes where you can basically save the bogs instead of the big trees where you can still save the high elevations and the low elevation. So it’s got to be fine filter enough to capture all the ecosystems including forest productivity gradients, big trees versus medium trees versus small trees, depending on the soil and the climate. And it’s got to be large scale enough based on the latest science and conservation biology that says you’ve got to protect quite a lot of these landscapes, these ecosystems, to maintain all the species and the processes, predator-prey relationships, hydrological, watershed integrity.
Gregor:
All these type of things you mentioned — loopholes — are there examples whether it’s here on the island or elsewhere in the province where loopholes and arrangements like the Old Growth Management Areas have been exploited to allow for more logging of endangered trees?
Ken:
So this keeps coming up, right? So basically, there’s two basic sets of ways you can save or safeguard ecosystems. One of them are the legislated protected areas, the hard protected areas and they’re bigger typically. So that’s like provincial parks. Provincial conservancies is a newer designation that is congruent with First Nations’ subsistence uses, co-management, and rights and title. So those are the big [designations] that exclude logging, mining oil and gas.
Then you’ve got a whole forest reserve conservation reserve labyrinth, Old Growth Management Areas, Wildlife Habitat Areas, visual quality objectives, riparian management zones — all these different kinds of designations. Some of them are weak and tenuous old growth management areas.
You can take out pieces under industry, then lobby and log those. And it happens all the time, by the way, just like like it happens hundreds, probably thousands of times across the province. So it’s a common occurrence and we’ve dealt with it in the Port Renfrew area over the years.
Gregor:
And so the devil is clearly in the details, but if it does live up to its potential, what you hope is, is coming. What do you think it would mean for some of the more contentious old-growth logging areas, like the Fairy Creek situation?
Ken:
So basically, it has to be obviously stitched together with the conservation financing mechanism. These can’t be two parallel policies that are not connected, right?
So, that’s a key thing to make sure, is that basically all this money now to power the expansion of protected areas is guided by ecosystem-based targets to make sure the deployment of those funds is [allocated] to get the most endangered and least represented ecosystems, and that could result in the protection of Fairy Creek and other high-productivity and most at-risk old growth across BC.
But in the end, it’s really important, [and it’s something] that the environmental movement doesn’t seem to quite grasp, which is that the BC government can’t unilaterally just “save the old growth.” Because of successive court rulings, not only does it require First Nations’ consent, but First Nations’ shared decision making in any legislated land-use changes on their territories is required if you’re going to save old growth and endangered ecosystems. And so the protection moves at the speed of the local First Nations whose territory it is on.
The funding can facilitate that because many First Nations have a lack of capacity and also a dependency on old growth timber industry, jobs and revenues. The conservation financing can support alternative industries while at the same time paving the path for new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. So all of it can work together.
We don’t have it yet, by the way, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Framework is high level, it doesn’t have the legislation yet. It’s not official.
There’s a few more months yet of public input, but we are going to push hard because if we can combine the two: the funding to power protected areas expansion and the ecosystem-based targets to save the most endangered areas, then we will have a world-class protected-areas system, and BC will lead the world in conservation policy there.
Gregor:
Are you optimistic at this point, Ken, that that will happen in the coming months?
Ken:
It always takes work, right? Premier Eby, I want to give him thanks, I want to give him crystal clear thanks that he’s moving things forward much quicker than any other previous premier has. And he’s a lot bolder, along with Steven Guilbeault, federally, the Environment Minister.
It is fueling the expansion of the protected areas system across Canada. And we will see, I’m certain, in the ensuing months and years, a massive unprecedented expansion of the protected areas system in BC. So I’m optimistic.
There’s going to be an election in the fall of 2024 and they will want to have this come out, I think, if they don’t want to bleed support to the Greens and this is something that I get a sense that Eby, personally, wants to make this happen.
Gregor:
Well, Ken, I appreciate you taking the time.
Ken:
It’s good to talk to you again.
Gregor:
Thanks very much.
Ken:
Hey, thanks for having me on again.
Gregor:
Ken Wu is executive director of the Ancient Forests Alliance. It’s 22 minutes after seven. This is “On The Island.”
‘Potential paradigm shift’: Activists are hopeful for BC’s new environmental protections
/in News CoverageNovember 15, 2023
Victoria Buzz
By Curtis Blandy
See the original article.
BC’s government is trying to implement further steps to protect and preserve the province’s at-risk environment through a new biodiversity and ecosystem health framework (BEHF).
Right now the BEHF is just a draft proposal, but Nathan Cullen, the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, is hopeful that it will become legislation and allow for the preservation of BC’s well-known natural landscapes.
“People in BC share a deep connection to nature, from our ancient forests and diverse wildlife, to our coastal waters and mountain ranges,” said Cullen.
“Together, we are charting the next steps for conserving BC’s rich biodiversity and healthy ecosystems that support us all.”
Earlier this month the Province announced it was aiming to protect 30% of BC’s old-growth forests to align with and honour the commitments they made based on the recommendations from the Old Growth Strategic Review.
Although the BEHF is vague in its current stages, conservation activists are applauding the government’s steps towards preservation and protection of BC’s old-growth.
However, these groups warn that “the devil will be in the details.”
“If this framework results in science-based targets to protect the full diversity of ecosystems in BC, including factoring in ‘forest productivity distinctions’ to protect the classic old-growth stands that spawned the ‘War in the Woods,’ then it would up-end the traditional conservation model in BC and across much of the world which seeks to minimize impacts of conservation on industry,” said Ken Wu, Executive Director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.
“In BC the dominant paradigm has long focused on minimizing the impacts of conservation on the available timber supply for logging, thus emphasizing the protection of alpine, subalpine, far north, and bog landscapes with low to no timber values.”
They say that it will take ecosystem-based targets for the BEHF to be effective.
“Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like sending in a fire brigade to hose down the non-burning homes, while those on fire are largely ignored,” Wu added.
The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and the Ancient Forest Alliance both say they would like to see the government approach this endeavour with integrity and adequate funding.
See the original article here.
Roosevelt Elk
/in Creature Feature, EducationalAutumn is the season of romance for the magnificent Roosevelt elk of the coastal rainforest. Males “bugle” for females, and, wielding their massive antlers (which can host six or more pointed tines branching out from the main beam), contend with each other for access to mates. The Roosevelt elk is Vancouver Island’s largest and most charismatic land mammal, weighing up to 1100 lbs/500 kg! Both sexes of elk are easily distinguishable from other ungulates by a thick dark brown mane on their head and neck and beige body and rump. These large mammals are an important food source for wolves, cougars, and many First Nations people.
, Roosevelt elk spend winters browsing for woody plants such as devil’s club and elderberry along the banks of rivers in rich, valley-bottom forests. With their abundant shrubs and huge trees that block out the falling snow, old-growth forests provide Roosevelt elk with critical habitat, especially in the harsh winter months.
It is fitting that Vancouver Island’s largest land animal is drawn to the habitats that produce BC’s biggest trees: the nutrient-rich floodplains of coastal rivers. The sight of a herd of elk browsing in an old-growth riparian forest full of towering Sitka spruce and ancient moss-draped maples is the pinnacle of rainforest beauty and majesty: charismatic megafauna combined with charismatic megaflora!
With only around 3,000 Roosevelt elk on the island, they are considered a species of special concern by the province. The number one constraint on their population is the destruction of their old-growth wintering habitat, making the protection of our richest-valley bottom ancient forests an essential step in ensuring these magnificent creatures continue to roam our forests for generations to come.
BC Opens the Door for a Potential Paradigm Shift in Conservation
/in Media ReleaseFor Immediate Release
November 15, 2023
BC Opens the Door for a Potential Paradigm Shift in Conservation: Prioritizing Saving the Most Endangered Ecosystems via Ecosystem-Based Targets.
If done right, conservationists say the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) could ensure a major paradigm shift to safeguard the most endangered and least protected ecosystems, such as big-treed old-growth forests (“high productivity” old-growth forests with the classic forest giants) and diverse valley bottom and low elevation ecosystems — rather than the status quo of primarily protecting areas of low timber values. Conservationists commend the vision in the draft framework for being a potentially revolutionary game-changer in conservation, but the devil will be in the details when the framework is completed in the spring.
The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) and Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are commending the BC government for developing a draft policy framework that intends to guide all new protection, conservation, and land-use activities in BC to ensure ecosystem integrity.
“We commend Premier David Eby and Minister Nathan Cullen for launching this potentially revolutionary game-changer in conservation, falling on the heels of their $1 billion-plus funding agreements to expand protected areas, announced earlier this month,” stated Ken Wu, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance executive director. “If this framework results in science-based targets to protect the full diversity of ecosystems in BC, including factoring in ‘forest productivity distinctions’ to protect the classic old-growth stands that spawned the ‘War in the Woods’, then it would up-end the traditional conservation model in BC and across much of the world which seeks to minimize impacts of conservation on industry. In BC, the dominant paradigm has long focused on minimizing the impacts of conservation on the available timber supply for logging, thus emphasizing the protection of alpine, subalpine, far north, and bog landscapes with low to no timber values. Ecosystem-based targets mean that you aim protected areas establishment towards the most endangered and least protected ecosystems. Without ecosystem-based targets, it’s like sending in a fire brigade to hose down the non-burning homes, while those on fire are largely ignored. Or a surgeon who makes no distinction between organs, and simply has a target in kilograms to remove. While much greater specificity is still needed as the BEHF moves toward policy and legislation, so far the province is largely signaling the right approach — and British Columbians will need to keep speaking up to make sure this policy lands right and is not a squandered opportunity.”
In BC, typically the ecosystems least coveted by industry are the most protected, in particular those with low to no timber values, such as alpine, subalpine, far north, and bog landscapes. These are native ecosystems that deserve protection. However, to immediately tackle the urgent extinction and climate crises, a far greater emphasis needs to be placed on saving those ecosystems most at risk and coveted for development by resource industries (particularly logging in BC). These at-risk ecosystems (with the big, valuable timber) tend to be more concentrated at lower elevations in southern BC.
“This document represents a potentially profound and necessary change in BC’s approach to nature conservation,” stated TJ Watt, campaigner and photographer with the Ancient Forest Alliance. “For over a century in BC, the government has prioritized industrial extraction at the expense of ecosystems. Finally, we are seeing that focus change. This transformation cannot come soon enough as many of our richest and most biodiverse ecosystems have been pushed right to the brink. The framework, however, must adhere to the centrality of legislated protected areas as foundational to prioritizing ecosystem-based health. Overemphasis on developing ever more stringent methods to practice industrial extraction in threatened ecosystems instead of identifying the areas most in need of full protection will continue to see the erosion of BC’s irreplaceable ecosystems. As this framework is further defined, we will need to see ecosystem protection targets focussed on the most biodiverse and threatened ecosystems such as productive old-growth forests. Without ecosystem-based protection targets to safeguard areas from industrial extraction, we will continue to see these ecosystems further chipped away at and degraded.”
Ancient Forest Alliance photographer & campaigner, TJ Watt, beside an enormous old-growth Sitka spruce growing unprotected west of Lake Cowichan in Ditidaht territory.
Key tenets of this agreement include a commitment to the creation of a “Provincial Biodiversity Officer” who would have responsibility for implementing the intentions of the framework, the development of updated guidance for the management of specific ecosystems, the acknowledgment of the need for protection of the most threatened ecosystems, and the acknowledgment of the need to maintain the natural range of variation in native ecosystems. Each of these represents key policy commitments that the EEA and AFA have advocated for and are critical tenets of ensuring a true paradigm shift in the management and protection of ecosystems in BC, particularly if targets include forest productivity distinctions (likely the largest uphill battle at this point). Despite these extremely positive signals, conservationists are cautioning that this framework must also recognize the critical role of legislated protected areas for at-risk ecosystems, not merely updated standards for exploitation.
To be an effective framework, the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) must include the following components:
“The province under Premier David Eby’s leadership and the federal government has provided half of the equation to protect ecosystems on a major scale in BC — the major funding to fuel protected areas expansion by supporting First Nations conservation initiatives. We have just heard from First Nations we’re working with to establish Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) that those funds are already being committed to move their old-growth protected areas initiatives along, which is excellent. Now the other vital half of the equation: to aim protected areas establishment towards the most endangered ecosystems. Premier Eby and Minister Cullen, with their new draft BEHF, are signaling that the province may very well be headed there. To make it simple, this whole thing must scale up the protection of the most endangered and least represented ecosystems in BC. If it doesn’t do that, it’s a flop. Let’s see where this goes and keep speaking up to make it happen,” stated Wu.
See a new EEA video series from a week ago on the status of BC old-growth and protected areas policies here.
The Narwhal: A billion dollars for nature in BC as long-awaited agreement is signed
/in News CoverageNovember 3, 2023
By Ainslie Cruickshank
The Narwhal
See the original article.
The tripartite nature agreement comes with new and old funding to protect old-growth forests, species at risk.
Federal, provincial and First Nations leaders gathered against the backdrop of Burrard Inlet Friday to announce a long-awaited nature agreement that promises further protections for old-growth forests and at-risk species.
The agreement, which runs through March 2030, comes with $1 billion in joint federal-provincial funding — some of which has already been announced — including $50 million from Ottawa to permanently protect 1.3 million hectares of “high priority” old-growth forests in BC.
Premier David Eby called it a “historic partnership.”
“We are so excited because it will enable us to fast track our old-growth protection work, it will enable us to protect habitat for species that are at-risk in our province,” he said.
The agreement — signed by the provincial and federal governments and the First Nations Leadership Council — also includes commitments to support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, conserve enough old forest habitat to support the recovery of 250 spotted owls and restore 140,000 hectares of degraded habitat within the next two years.
“This is a major, major agreement on protecting nature,” Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault told The Narwhal ahead of Friday’s announcement.
“I think people will look at this agreement and say, ‘OK, this is how it needs to be done going forward now in Canada,’ ” he said. “It’s nature, it’s conservation, it’s restoration, but it’s also about reconciliation.”
Recovery of endangered species, such as caribou and spotted owls, is one of the key goals of the new nature agreement. Photo: Ryan Dickie / The Narwhal
The governments have committed to working with Indigenous Rights holders to implement the agreement in a way that’s consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“Fundamentally, we need to be a part of the decision-making process,” Terry Teegee, the Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said during Friday’s announcement.
“We have a sacred duty to do our utmost to protect the land, to nurture the land, and this agreement serves that purpose,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said. “It’s the right thing to do for our grandchildren and future generations.”
Conservation groups welcome new agreement to protect nature amid unprecedented biodiversity decline
Ken Wu, the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, called the new agreement a “huge leap forward to supercharge the expansion of the protected area system in British Columbia.”
Dedicated funding is crucial for enabling Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, he said.
But one thing he will be watching for moving forward are ecosystem-based protection targets, to ensure conservation of the highest risk ecosystems.
The agreement comes at a critical time for nature globally. Biodiversity is declining with unprecedented speed and scientists warn the world could be in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event. One million species are at risk of disappearing, according to a 2019 global assessment. Others have already been lost.
In Canada alone, 5,000 species — such as the western sandpiper, blue whale, eastern prickly-pear cactus and the Vancouver marmot — are at some risk of extinction, according to a comprehensive survey of the country’s biodiversity.
Habitat destruction from clearcut logging, mining, oil and gas extraction and expansive urban development is a driving force behind biodiversity loss, but climate change, invasive species and over-hunting and fishing are also major contributors.
Under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework signed at COP15 in December 2022, Canada and 195 other countries agreed to take urgent action to stem nature losses, including by conserving 30 per cent of land and waters by 2030.
But Canada would be hard-pressed to meet its commitments without the support of provinces, territories and Indigenous nations.
Through nature agreements, the federal government is offering major funding injections for provinces and territories that agree to stronger conservation action. The first, a $20.6 million agreement with the Yukon, was announced at COP15.
The BC agreement comes after three years of negotiations between the federal and provincial government and one year of trilateral negotiations with the First Nations Leadership Council, which comprises the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs and the First Nations Summit.
Provincial funding for the agreement comes through existing programs and initiatives, including modernized land use planning, forest landscape planning and the new conservation financing mechanism announced last week. At least $104 million of federal funding for restoration is being allocated through the federal government’s initiative to plant two billion trees over ten years.
Jens Wieting, a senior forest and climate campaigner at Sierra Club BC, said the BC nature agreement has “all the ingredients to speed up progress” towards meeting the 2030 targets, but “it must translate to change on the ground.”
‘Nothing else can put this new agreement to the test as the spotted owl can’
BC has made significant commitments to both protect 30 per cent of land in the province by 2030 and also to transform the way decisions about land and natural resources are made.
But internal government records show the province also saw the nature agreement as a way to avoid direct federal intervention to protect at-risk species. Though it rarely uses it, the federal government has authority under the Species At Risk Act to intervene in provincial land use decisions to protect at-risk species and has been urged to do so in the case of spotted owls.
Spotted owls were listed as endangered under the act 20 years ago and yet the old-growth forests they depend on are still logged today.
Guilbeault recommended the federal government issue an emergency order this year to protect critical spotted owl habitat, but the BC government lobbied against it and ultimately the federal cabinet chose not to issue the order.
The new nature agreement commits the governments to finalizing a spotted owl recovery strategy and protecting enough of the raptor’s old-growth forest habitat to one day support 250 owls in the wild. Additionally, it lays out commitments to increase capacity for BC’s captive breeding program and efforts to control barred owl numbers.
“We’re putting money on the table, the BC government is putting money on the table,” Guilbeault said. “I think that’s a significant change from where we were 20, 10 or even five years ago,” he said.
Following the press conference, Spuzzum First Nation Chief James Hobart said “nothing else can put this new agreement to the test as the spotted owl can.”
“They’re really important to us,” he said. “When we see a spotted owl, sometimes we think of it as somebody that’s passed on.”
“When you only see one around, it’s not really a good indicator of our messengers,” he said.
The spotted owl, he said, should determine where logging can and can’t happen. And if a First Nation says it doesn’t want logging in its territory, it should be “a no go zone,” Hobart said. “We should not have to have that discussion more than once,” he said.
‘Legal gaps’ leave nature vulnerable as BC develops new biodiversity policy framework
Alongside efforts to recover endangered species such as the spotted owl, the nature agreement lays out commitments to address threats to species early on by identifying and protecting critical habitat to prevent crisis-level population declines.
These early actions could help avoid the need to list species under the federal Species at Risk Act, the agreement says.
That’s a concern for Charlotte Dawe, conservation and policy campaigner for the Wilderness Committee.
“If we’re not listing species that need to be listed, that’s an issue,” she said. Those decisions should be science-based, not determined by whether the government is already taking recovery actions or by potential impacts on industry, she said.
One of the long-standing conservation challenges in BC is the piecemeal approach the province has taken to protecting at-risk species.
Conservation groups say it’s not working. A report last year from the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club BC found “huge legal gaps” are driving species loss and urged the province to develop a new law that prioritizes ecosystem health and protects species at risk.
The Forest Practices Board, meanwhile, showed BC is failing to use even the tools it already has at its disposal to protect at-risk species’ critical habitat in a report released this summer. The report found, for instance, the province hasn’t updated its legal list of species at risk since 2006, meaning it can’t use tools under the Forest and Range Practices Act to protect numerous species scientists consider to be under threat.
BC has committed to overhauling the way it manages land and is working with First Nations to develop a new biodiversity and ecosystem health framework, a draft of which is expected to be released for public consultation this year.
But critics worry the promised transformation is taking too long to materialize, as old-growth forests continue to fall.
And while the new nature agreement outlines ambitious commitments, Victoria Watson, a lawyer with the environmental law charity Ecojustice, notes the agreement itself isn’t legally binding.
“Law and regulations that hold Canada and BC accountable to some of the commitments that have been outlined in the agreement are really essential,” she said. As is a “willingness on the part of Canada and BC to really share authority on the ground with First Nations.”
In the short-term, Watson said she’ll be looking for “immediate action on the ground,” including new old-growth logging deferrals.
Guilbeault said old-growth forests were “at the heart” of nature agreement discussions.
Finalizing the agreement is an “extremely positive step,” he said, one that should see tens of millions of dollars in federal funding actually flowing to the BC government and First Nations to support conservation.
“My hope,” Guilbeault said, is “especially on species at risk and old-growth that we can move as quickly as possible because obviously it’s a matter of some urgency.”
Updated Nov. 3, 2023, at 2:55 p.m. PT: This story has been updated to include quotes from the nature agreement announcement and reactions to it.
See the original article.
CHEK News: BC signs ‘historic’ $1B agreement to protect lands and waters
/in News CoverageNovember 3, 2023
By Mary Griffin
CHEK News
Read the original article and watch the video here.
It’s described as an historic agreement for BC.
It’s a $1 billion agreement to protect 30 per cent of BC’s lands and waters by 2030, according to Steve Guilbeault, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change of Canada.
“This may be the single most significant nature plan in the history of Canada,” he said at an announcement Friday.
Ottawa is contributing $500 million, with $50 million reserved to protect 4,000 square kilometres of old-growth forest, and another $104 million to restore the habitat of species at risk.
The provincial government’s share is more than $560 million.
Premier David Eby said the agreement will enable the provincial government to fast-track our old-growth protection work.
“This is a paradigm shift in our province about protecting ecosystems, about recognizing the integrated nature of what we want to protect on the land, and how we use the land to make sure it’s there for generations to come,” he said Friday.
TJ Watt, co-founder of the Ancient Forest Alliance, said this agreement could lead to the permanent deferments of logging on Vancouver Island areas in Fairy Creek, and the Walbran Valley.
“This level of funding, again, can help support First Nations that are in the driver’s seat in deciding what old-growth forests get protected in their territory, move some of those temporary deferrals to long time protection measures,” Watt said.
The agreement comes at a critical time, according to Regional Chief, Terry Teegee, BC Assembly of First Nations.
“We’ve experienced this past year, unprecedented drought, unprecedented wildfire season in Canada’s history, and the province’s history. And certainly part of that is conserving biodiverse areas in our respective territories, and in British Columbia,” Teegee said.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillips, Union of BC Indian Chiefs, said First Nations will oversee the conservation efforts.
“We have a sacred duty to do our utmost duty to protect the land, to nurture the land,” he said. “And this agreement serves that purpose. What I like about the agreement is tripartite.”
To reach its target, 100,000 square kilometres of land must be added to the 20 percent of the province already protected.
Read the original article.