<
https://www.straight.com/city-culture/conservation-financing-is-a-game-changer-for-bcs-old-growth-forests>
"Last week, BC Premier David Eby announced a new $300 million “conservation
financing mechanism.” Based on a startup contribution of $150 million from the
Province and $150 million from the BC Parks Foundation (the charitable partner
of the BC Parks agency), the fund will support First Nations communities to
establish new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). This puts BC on
the verge of a major protected areas expansion over the next few months and
years to reach its minimum projection target of 30 per cent by 2030. Currently
about 15 per cent of BC is in protected areas.
BC’s old-growth forests have spawned one of the most passionate and pervasive
ecosystem-protection movements in world history, and for good reason. They
contain some of the largest and oldest living organisms that have ever existed
in Earth’s history: forest giants that can live to 2,000 years old and grow
wider than a living room. Old-growth forests are vital to support unique and
endangered species, climate stability, clean water, wild salmon, First Nations
cultures, and BC’s multi-billion dollar tourism industry. They have unique
characteristics that are not replicated by the ensuing second-growth tree
plantations that they are being replaced with and that are logged every 50 to
80 years on BC’s coast, never to become old-growth again.
Well over 80 per cent of the original, productive old-growth forests (sites
where most big trees and timber values reside) have already been logged, and
over five million hectares of big trees, rare (by ecosystem type) trees, and
the very oldest of old-growth forests remain unprotected in BC; 2.6 million
hectares have been identified as the top priorities for logging deferrals by
the Province’s appointed panels.
I’ve spent the last 33 years of my life with a continuous focus on protecting
old-growth forests in BC, engaged in just about every tactic in the toolbox of
environmental activism at one time or another. But over the past six years I’ve
focused the vast majority of my time on two key policies that are indispensable
for protecting old-growth forests and BC’s diverse ecosystems: conservation
financing and ecosystem-based protection targets. These are two fundamental
game-changers for stopping old-growth and ecosystem destruction in BC."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-rail-education-ethiopia-conservation-congo/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
