Page - October 19, 2006
Industrial logging is likely to remain the single largest
threat to the Great Bear Rainforest until ecosystem-based
management and its inherent low-risk and precautionary approaches
are fully implemented in planning and on the ground.
Widespread clearcutting has already destroyed 80 per cent of
British Columbia's large rainforest valleys wiping out critical
habitat for species such as wolves and grizzly bears. Deforestation
often causes landslides, loss of biodiversity, impacts to water
quality and increases the rate of climate change by increasing the
world's carbon emissions. To suggest that fully functioning ancient
forest ecosystems that have evolved over thousands of years can
recover within a few decades after the majority of the trees have
been cleared is simply unbelievable.
Industrial forestry not only threatens the ecosystems and
wildlife of the Great Bear Rainforest; it risks the sustainability
of the region's local communities. The province of British
Columbia's forest strategy is based on cutting high volumes of wood
to produce low value-added products. B.C. forestry creates $119 of
value per cubic metre of wood compared to the U.S., which averages
$318. British Columbia employs the fewest number of people per
cubic metre of wood when compared to any logging country in the
world. Raw log exports from the province are on the increase; the
total volume of raw logs exported from B.C. in 2002 - 3.7 million
cubic metres (over 100,000 truckloads) - was more than 15 times the
volume exported in 1997. The exported logs in 2002 were valued at
over $500 million and could have translated into 3,700 jobs if they
were processed in B.C.
This type of resource management has forced mills to close in
places such as Youbou, British Columbia. Converting the region's
ancient forests into low value-added products, like 2 x 4s - or
shipping them offshore as raw logs - may serve the short-term
interests of multinational corporations, but it does very little to
build lasting community sustainability.
Currently very few of the benefits of industrial logging are
seen in local communities. In the Great Bear Rainforest less than a
quarter of jobs created by logging employ people from the local
communities. At the same time, logging companies continue to
deplete the natural resources these same communities need to build
a sustainable economy.
Interim agreements do exist with environmental groups,
industry, communities and others to support protection of some of
the most important areas of the Great Bear Rainforest, change
logging practices and support a sustainable future for local
communities. This is a significant step forward. However, until
long-term protection is legislated and a more sustainable approach
to resource management is happening on the ground, the future
outlook for many of these communities and their environment is
uncertain.