Posts

Funding for Old-Growth Arrives in BC Budget, Falls Short of What’s Needed

/in /by

 

For immediate release
February 22, 2022

Conservationists argue more support is necessary for First Nations communities to ensure most at-risk ancient forests can remain standing.

VICTORIA (Unceded Lekwungen Territories) – The BC government appears to have improved upon funding commitments for old-growth forests in Budget 2022, but still has fallen short of providing the amount necessary to fully protect endangered ancient forests in BC. $185 million has been budgeted for old-growth, which includes funding for workers, industry, communities, and First Nations. Depending on how funding is allocated, this announcement potentially contains up to one-third of the contribution needed from the province to support First Nations communities, whose consent is needed to implement old-growth logging deferrals.

Conservationists have repeatedly called for the province to commit at least $300 million to support Indigenous-led old-growth logging deferrals, land-use plans, and protected areas alone.
 
This would include funding for Indigenous Guardians programs, offsetting the lost revenues for logging deferrals, and support for the sustainable economic diversification of First Nations communities in lieu of old-growth logging and linked to the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas. Support for forestry workers and contractors, and legally defined compensation for major licensees, would be above and beyond this total.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands beside a giant old-growth cedar stump in the Caycuse Valley in Ditidaht territory.

“Today the BC government took a first step in the right direction in funding for old-growth,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner and photographer TJ Watt. “However, they still fell short on the funding needed to relieve the economic pressure faced by First Nations so that logging deferrals can become an economically viable option for them. This funding shortfall makes enacting the full suite of old-growth logging deferrals virtually impossible to achieve.”
 
The BC government has committed to implementing all 14 recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review Panel. In its list of recommendations, the review panel directed the province to act quickly to defer (temporarily halt) the logging of old-growth forests at high risk of biodiversity loss. The BC government later accepted, in principle, the recommendation to defer 2.6 million hectares of the most at-risk ancient forests by an independent science panel, focusing on the largest and oldest trees remaining in BC. Months later, 570,000 hectares have been deferred on lands managed by BC Timber Sales, and an additional smaller fraction has been set aside by First Nations, while some forests identified for deferral continue to be logged.
 
Federal funding is available to support environmental protection in BC. $2.3 billion was committed last year to help Canada achieve its international commitments to protect 25% of lands and waters by 2025 and 30% by 2030. Of this, several hundred million dollars are available for the expansion of protected areas in BC, with $50 million specifically allocated to BC old-growth so far. An additional $631 million is earmarked for “Nature Smart Climate Solutions” with $200 million already allocated for the protection of carbon-rich ecosystems such as BC’s old-growth forests.

Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner & photographer TJ Watt stands beside a giant old-growth cedar tree in a forest recommended for deferral near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory. 

“It’s time that the BC government embraced the significant funding available from the federal government to help support land conservation initiatives in BC, including for old-growth forests,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Ian Illuminato. “This is a golden opportunity to obtain hundreds of millions in funding from the federal government to support the creation of new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and support the permanent protection of old-growth forests. Why are they waiting?”
 
Last week, 25 municipal leaders from 14 BC communities urged the province to follow through on its promises to protect at-risk old-growth forests. Their letter requested that the BC government swiftly establish a provincial fund to relieve the economic pressure that makes it challenging for many First Nations communities to support logging deferrals. Citizens across BC have recently made hundreds of phone calls and sent thousands of letters calling for increased funding for old-growth protection as well.

Conservationists decry absence of funding for old-growth, forestry paradigm shift in BC Budget

/in /by

Victoria, BC – The Ancient Forest Alliance is disappointed the NDP government’s provincial budget, released yesterday, fails to allocate funding to protect endangered old-growth forests or enact the necessary paradigm shift in BC’s forest sector. 

“The BC government has missed a critical opportunity to show British Columbians it’s serious about its old-growth commitments,” stated Ancient Forest Alliance campaigner Andrea Inness.  

“Despite promising a complete paradigm shift in the way BC’s forests are managed, the NDP government’s 2021 budget is bereft of meaningful solutions to make it happen. In fact, the Ministry of Forests budget is being slashed by $41 million this year and a further $30 million in 2022.” 

“How does the province expect to protect ancient forest ecosystems, support communities, and overhaul its forest management regime with less funding than it had before?” 

The provincial budget comes six months after Premier Horgan committed to the full implementation of the 14 recommendations set out by the BC NDP-appointed Old Growth Strategic Review Panel, which submitted its final report one year ago. The recommendations include an immediate halt to logging in BC’s most at-risk old-growth forests within six months; a new, science-based approach to forest management that prioritizes biodiversity; and proactive, adequately funded local and provincial transition plans.

Since the panel’s report was released publicly in September, the BC government introduced a regulation to protect an estimated maximum of 1,500 of BC’s biggest trees and deferred logging in nine areas encompassing 353,000 hectares. However, only 3,800 of those hectares are previously unprotected, at-risk old-growth forest, leaving the majority of BC’s remaining productive old-growth forests open to logging.

While Budget 2021 does include increased funding for land-use planning modernization (an inadequate $7.3 million over three years), $180 million to support negotiations with First Nations communities, which ideally will include engagement on the Old Growth Panel recommendations, and $17 million to enact the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), it’s missing critical funding pieces needed to fully implement the Old Growth Panel’s recommendations.  

“The provincial budget lacks funding to relieve economic pressure faced by BC First Nations so that logging deferrals become an economically viable option for them,” stated Inness.

“There’s also no funding for new Indigenous Protected Areas that conserve old-growth forests, no conservation financing to support the economic diversification of First Nations communities while old-growth is protected, and no funding to help workers and communities transition away from old-growth logging. In terms of funding sustainable forestry solutions, this budget is as bleak as an old-growth clearcut.”  

The Ancient Forest Alliance, other conservation groups, and hundreds of British Columbians sent feedback to the BC government’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services last year, calling for funding for old-growth protection in Budget 2021. That feedback was reflected in the Standing Committee’s final report, in which it recommended the BC government “fund a transition to second growth harvesting and away from primary forests” in Budget 2021. 

An additional 4,200 messages were also sent in the weeks leading up to the budget announcement, illustrating British Columbians’ expectations that the province follow up its old-growth commitments with timely and adequate funding. 

“The Standing Committee’s recommendation and British Columbians’ wishes seem to have fallen on deaf ears,” stated campaigner TJ Watt. “By failing to fund the Old Growth Panel’s recommendations, the NDP government will be severely limited in how far they can go to protect old-growth, setting the stage for more of BC’s endangered ancient forests to fall.” 

“That the BC government also failed to fund old-growth protection and sustainable economic development in Clayoquot Sound is particularly disappointing, especially after the federal government in 2019 committed matching funds for the implementation of the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht land-use visions, which set the vast majority of those Nations’ territories in Clayoquot Sound aside from industrial development,” stated Watt. 

“On Monday, the federal government committed $2.3 billion – in addition to the $1.3 billion it committed in 2018 – to protect one million square kilometers of Canada’s land and freshwater and to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, Indigenous Guardians programs, provincial and territorial protected areas, and to protect species at risk.” 

“The NDP government has a unique opportunity to obtain matching funds from the federal government. They’re missing a golden opportunity to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas while delivering the paradigm shift that was promised.”

-30-

No New Money for Old Growth Protection in BC’s Budget

/in /by

Spending plan ‘absolutely shatters’ hopes that province is taking changes to forest industry seriously, says advocate.

The Tyee
Apr 2021

GraniteCreekLoggedCedar.jpg
Old-growth red cedar logged in the Granite Creek watershed near Port Renfrew in Pacheedaht territory. Photo by TJ Watt, Ancient Forest Alliance.

Despite calls to end old-growth logging in B.C. and government promises to overhaul its forestry practices, there is no new funding for that transition in the budget announced today.

Instead, the ministry responsible for B.C.’s forest management will see an overall drop in funding over the next three years.

The budget comes seven months after the province released a strategic panel review on old-growth logging, which called for a paradigm shift to prioritize ecosystem health over the timber supply and recognize values like biodiversity, clean water and cultural resources.

The report made 14 recommendations that would totally overhaul the management of old-growth forests, starting with grounding the system in a government-to-government framework involving both the provincial and Indigenous governments.

In releasing the report last September, the province deferred logging in 353,000 hectares of forest, some of which was old growth. The deferral expires Aug. 31, 2022.

In the weeks leading up to B.C.’s fall election, Premier John Horgan promised to implement all 14 recommendations of the old-growth strategic panel review, saying his government is “committed to implementing the report in its totality.” Horgan has cited the need to consult with First Nations as a factor delaying more action on the recommendations.

When asked where funding for implementing the promised changes are in the budget, Finance Minister Selina Robinson said funding already exists under the existing Ministry of Forests budget.

When pressed about the reduction in funding to the ministry — cut 4.4 per cent this year — she repeated her response.

“Like I said, that funding exists, it’s available to the Ministry of Forests, and I’m assured by the minister that they can accommodate that within their budget,” Robinson said.

Torrance Coste, national campaign director with the Wilderness Committee, called the response “frankly shocking.”

“To hear the finance minister say any changes, the paradigm shift itself, just exists within standard… budget absolutely shatters any notion that this government is taking this seriously,” he said, noting that the ministry has other challenges, such as wildfires, that are causing costs to increase.

“They called for a paradigm shift, and now they’re cutting the budget of the ministry that oversees forests. That doesn’t make sense to me,” he said. “At the end of the day, the budget needs to be going up if you’re going to do a paradigm shift. Or if it doesn’t, then they need to explain why.”

The budget, which projects an $8.1-billion deficit, says employment is rebounding following unprecedented job losses early in the pandemic and promises to consult with “businesses, economists and Indigenous and community leaders to ensure a strong and sustainable recovery for all B.C. communities.”

In introducing the budget, which focused on health and economic recovery, Robinson touched on the province’s relationship with First Nations, citing its passing of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in 2019.

“The declaration recognizes and respects the human rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensures that they are involved in decisions that affect them and their territories,” Robinson said, adding that greater Indigenous participation in decision-making provides more certainty for resource-sector investment.

But apart from a significant increase in funding to the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation for treaty and other land-use agreements, the budget does little to reflect that priority.

It promises $60 million in annual base funding to support engagement with Indigenous Peoples and $17 million over three years to support the implementation of DRIPA and government’s commitments under existing reconciliation agreements, including land transfers.

But Coste noted the Forest Ministry budget for “Forest Policy and Indigenous Relationship” is less than $10.5 million, up from just over $9 million last year.

Last month, environmental organizations Ancient Forest Alliance, Sierra Club BC and Wilderness Committee issued a statement on the six-month anniversary of the old-growth report assessing progress.

It gave the province a failing grade on providing economic alternatives for First Nations and funding a transition in the industry as old-growth logging is deferred.

It called on the province to provide the needed funding, saying it is fundamental to implementing the old-growth strategy.

In the throne speech delivered two weeks ago, Lt. Gov. Janet Austin noted that economic growth in B.C. has often come at the expense of the environment.

That must change, Austin said, reading a speech written in the premier’s office.

“We can no longer rely on simple resource extraction to generate wealth with no regard to long-term consequences,” she said, promising to work on reforming the Forest Act and the Forest and Range Practices Act and updating land-management practices to emphasize environmental protection.

“Your government will continue to take action on the independent report on old growth, which recommended important new protection for remaining old-growth stands not already protected,” she said. “Our economic recovery must become an opportunity to accelerate environmental protection, not an excuse to relax our commitment to sustainability.”

Yet old-growth logging continues in B.C.

Several protestor blockades are currently in place on Vancouver Island to prevent old-growth logging. On April 1, the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction to logging company Teal Cedar, a division of the Teal-Jones Group, to have the protesters removed.

As of yesterday, the injunction had not been enforced.

Forest revenue is expected to increase by 7.4 per cent next year but decline an average of 12.8 per cent annually over the following two years, as the province projects a 20-per-cent decrease in stumpage rates, which are paid by industry to the government for timber on Crown land.

There were no significant changes to forest harvests, dropping from 46 million cubic metres over the next year to 45 million over the next two years, with harvests slightly down in the Interior but up on the coast.

Coste said that also needs to change.

“At the end of the day, we do need to bring the cut down a bit,” he said. “The government says value over volume every second breath. They’re talking about all the things they’re doing to bring the value up; eventually they’re going to have to start talking about how to bring the volume down and leave more forest.”

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs passed a resolution in September calling on the province to implement all 14 recommendations of the old-growth panel and to ensure that immediate deferrals include all threatened old-growth forests.

The Tyee reached out to UBCIC on Monday about what it hoped to see in the budget. In an emailed statement, UBCIC president Grand Chief Stewart Phillip reiterated the organization’s passion for protecting old growth and the need to move forward in a way that allows sustainable old-growth management to protect, respect and advance First Nations rights and title.

“UBCIC would like to see funding put towards stronger, comprehensive old-growth policy, including the full implementation of the recommendations from the Strategic Old Growth report, and more engagement and consultation with First Nations on how they can impose a moratorium on old-growth logging that directly impacts their territories,” Phillip said.

BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau said she was surprised by the finance minister’s comments that existing funding under the Ministry of Forests would finance a transition in the forest industry, particularly as the province was set to reduce its budget.

“In order to have the paradigm shift away from old-growth logging, we need to see investment in Indigenous-led conservation efforts, we need to see conservation financing put on the table by the provincial government so that Indigenous communities can have that economic opportunity to invest in their future in ways that does not undermine the long-term health of their environment and their ecosystems,” she said.

Furstenau pointed to long-term, sustainable opportunities like the Great Bear Rainforest and investments in eco-tourism, sustainable aquaculture and sustainable forestry.

“There are so many ways that we could be leaning into the paradigm shift that is needed to get away from old-growth logging, to have her say that… is disappointing and it’s a clear indication that this government does not take their commitment to protecting old growth seriously,” she said.

Read the original article