Healthy Forest Report Calls for Transformative Change in Long Term Forest Management
Thursday, January 26, 2012 @ 3:58 AM
Prince George, B.C.- After a year of gathering input from the public, stakeholders and communities, the Health Forests- Healthy Communities Initiative has issued a set of recommendations that call for long term stewardship of B.C’s Forests.
The seven recommendations from the initiative call for:
1) Political parties engage in dialogue with communities and concerned citizens regarding community and family long-term needs
2) Government review the legislation, regulation and policies to be consistent with the focus on long-term forest lands stewardship
3) Government adopt the requirement for a forest lands vision to guide legislation, regulation and policy
4) Decision-makers adopt the key messages and challenges identified though the HFHC
5) Decision-makers establish opportunities to bring together people to generate innovative ideas to address issues and challenges
6) Communities identify initiatives to assist in providing clarity regarding what is needed from local-regional forest lands and mechanisms to become more involved in forest management decisions
7) Professional associations and academia consider development of a program to provide assistance to communities
The report says the public has an expectation that the Provincial Government will manage the Crown Lands, ( which represent 94% of the Province) in the public’s best interest specifically to protect social, cultural and economic values over the long term and provide residents with expected products and services.
The report says the 20 community engagement session identified a concern over the future of B.C. forests lands and that experts in the fields of forest management are of the view that more needs to be done in the area of forest management . It also says communities and decision makers are confronted with a number of challenges due to the economic challenges of today and the future so there is a need for “transformative” change in the long term management of BC forest lands.
Comments
“1) Political parties engage in dialogue with communities and concerned citizens regarding community and family long-term needs”
Why political parties? Do political parties have the funds to do this in a systematic way? Is the thinking that neither the party in power nor the party in opposition, as well as any independents are not doing their job? Who will fund this and where will the funds go to?
Why is #2 then the government rather than political parties?
Who or what is this “Health Forests- Healthy Communities Initiative”?
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