Conservationists call for the protection of old-growth forests and incentives and regulations to ensure a modernized, value-added, second-growth forest industry.

By Ken Wu

I have an optimistic and resilient outlook on life. I feel fortunate that I have always tended towards this mindset, which has helped me with my environmental activism and with life in general. But, like billions of people around the world, there was a period recently when I experienced a feeling of major despair and a foreboding that very hard times are coming for the planet and humanity – so much so that I even stopped looking at the news for a week (which I never do).

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As we approach a BC election (October 19th - BC residents please register to vote at: https://elections.bc.ca/), where do the political parties stand on protecting nature? Safeguarding nature is vital for our health and well-being (even breathing in the air in nature is shown by science to boost our immune systems through plant compounds known as “phytoncides”), for the economy (protected areas attract and support a large diversity of industries and skilled labour to surrounding communities), for the climate, and for the diversity of life on Earth.

Conservationists note the latest BC government plan doesn’t include much action beyond its previous commitments, with the updated plan lacking specificity and objectives around old-growth protection, but the mention of a science advisory group is much welcomed. Key deferral funding and ecosystem-based targets are still missing. Existing commitments to protect 30% of BC by 2030 with over $1 billion in provincial-federal funding are moving protected areas progress forward, as the province has been in discussions with dozens of First Nations across BC on their Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCA) proposals.

As the BC Conservatives surge in the polls, party leader John Rustad — kicked out of the BC Liberal caucus for promoting a tweet spreading misinformation about climate change — says he would scrap the province’s pledge to create new conserved areas

Today, on International Day of Forests, the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) and Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) are expressing serious concerns that the British Columbian government is backsliding on its previous policy progress to ensure an ecological paradigm shift regarding its management of old-growth forests across BC.

Learn about forest productivity distinctions in BC.