COWICHAN BAY, BC — Today, The BC Greens unveiled a plan to expand BC’s community forest program, to protect forests while boosting local jobs and supporting rural economies.
“BC’s forests are part of our identity, but years of industrial logging, wildfires, insect infestations and other disturbances have left them in crisis,” said BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau.
“Multinational corporations have exploited our forests, shipping raw logs overseas while communities lose mills and jobs. Governments in BC have repeatedly put the interests of industry ahead of the interests of communities and forests and now we’re all paying the price. John Rustad wants to take us back to the old BC Liberal days, where corporate profits came at the expense of our old growth and ecosystems. It’s a path that brought us to the brink. We can’t afford to go back.”
What the BC Greens will do:
- Expand the community forest program by increasing the number and size of community forests to promote biodiversity, wildfire protection, rural development, and ecosystem resilience.
- 20% of the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) be dedicated to community forests.
- No logging of primary/old growth forests.
- Fully fund the protection of primary/old growth forests and compensate First Nations for any lost revenues due to deferrals.
- Stop clearcut logging and switch to practices like selective logging, commercial thinning, and longer rotation cycles that mimic natural forest changes.
“In the more rural areas such as my riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat,” says BC Greens candidate David Evans, “there is great concern about poor forestry practices and the negative impact on key water supplies, both quality and quantity, and increasing vulnerability to wildfire. In addition, we are losing valuable resources by not harvesting trees sustainably, while taking a very short-sighted view of jobs in the resource sector.”
For decades, Indigenous communities, scientists and environmental advocates have called for a fundamental change in how we manage our forests. While the BC NDP government has promised a new direction, our iconic old-growth continues to fall and communities – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – continue to face mill closures and job losses.
“Forests are essential, improve well-being and demonstrate our interconnectedness. We’ve seen that exploitative practices harm water resources and increase wildfire risks,” said Cammy Lockwood, BC Greens candidate for Cowichan Valley. “Community forests create twice as many jobs as industrial logging and ensure the benefits stay local. Transferring tenure from large corporations to First Nations and communities is good for forest stewardship and supports a healthy wood products sector.”
The BC Greens have been pushing the BC NDP for real action on forestry for years – calling to fully implement all recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review, protection of species at risk, and an end to harmful practices like logging for wood pellets and using glyphosate.
BC Greens 2024 Platform
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