Opposing views about forest harvesting in British Columbia, Canada

Résumé du document

The forest industry has been a crucial part of British Columbia's economy for a very long time. Up until the 1970s, it was widely claimed that 50% of every dollar spent in BC was generated by the forest industry (from textbook, Farley 1972, 87). Today, this industry still remains the backbone of the economy of the Province as well as its individual communities and the regions. In 1993, the British Columbia Roundtable found that "94,000 British Columbians were directly employed in the forest sector and that the livelihoods of as many as 140,000 more depended largely on the forest sector" (p.43). Unfortunately, the emergence of sophisticated technologies and rules encouraging overharvesting has led to many conflicts and crisis in the forest industry. For many years, opposing views and interests have been creating a climate of uncertainty in the whole industry.

What are the main issues concerning forest harvesting in British Columbia and why are there different views about it? What are these opposing views and who is advocating them? Is it possible to reach a consensus or to find a long-lasting balance between these divergent interests?

Extraits

[...] The province of British Columbia plays a very important role in the Canadian forest industry. Indeed, it represents 20% to 30% of employment in the Canadian forest industry. More than 60% of the BC timber is exported, mostly to the United States, but also to Asia (Japan, for example). The forest industry is therefore a crucial part of BC economy. Nevertheless, forest harvesting causes many problems, especially related to the environment, but also to First Nations aboriginals, who claim access to natural resources. [...]

[...] These environmental groups and NGOs asked (and continues to do so) for a reorientation of the forest policy in British Columbia. For instance, many of them were asking for an end to clear-cut logging, such as the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee, which led a campaign in British Columbia in 1998, as shown in the picture on the next page. Picture Western Canadian Wilderness Committee 1998 campaign Before all these environmental claims broke out, the BC government and the multinational forest companies such as Weyerhaeuser or Fletcher Challenge were only concerned about economic issues in a globalized world: benefits, employment, growth etc. [...]

[...] Paris: Hommes et Terres du Nord. May, Elizabeth At the Cutting Edge. The Crisis of Canada's Forests. Toronto: Key Porter Books. [...]

[...] Opposing views about forest harvesting in British Columbia, Canada The forest industry has been a crucial part of British Columbia's economy for a very long time. Up until the 1970s, it was widely claimed that 50% of every dollar spent in BC was generated by the forest industry (from textbook, Farley 1972, 87). Today, this industry still remains the backbone of the economy of the Province as well as its individual communities and the regions. In 1993, the British Columbia Roundtable found that “94,000 British Columbians were directly employed in the forest sector and that the livelihoods of as many as 140,000 more depended largely on the forest sector” (p.43). [...]

[...] At the beginning of 2008, environmentalists and forest companies said that they had reached a new agreement on logging in the North-central B.C. Coast and the British Columbia government decided to protect 2.1 million hectares of coastal temperate rainforest. According to Lisa Matthaus, Coast Campaign Coordinator for the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter, an incredible conflict to consensus story. British Columbians are showing that it is possible to protect the environment and provide the economic foundation for healthy communities. [...]