Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to today's episode of Red Eye. I'm Jane Williams.
Speaker: On the podcast today, I speak with Jens Wieting about the urgent need to protect BC forests as they face the double whammy of clear -cut logging and climate change.
Speaker: A recent review of key forest trends in BC shows that logging is still continuing at unsustainable levels, both for all growth and forests in general. This is despite the rapid increase of forest area burned and the fact that there's a limited area of intact forests left.
Speaker: The review was produced by the Sierra Club BC, who say that clear -cut logging and climate change are pushing BC's forests into uncharted territory. I'm joined now by Jens Vitting, Senior Policy and Science Advisor with Sierra Club BC. Hello Jens. Hello, thanks for having me. It's nice to talk with you again.
Speaker: It's now been four years since the BC government's announcement of the old growth strategic review. Has it been any kind of annual government overview of the state of the forest in BC since then?
Speaker: Unfortunately, we have not seen an annual state of the forest report in BC since 2010, actually. That was the last time when we got a detailed comprehensive overview on on various trends. But so sadly, no follow through on one of the important recommendations from the old growth review back in 2020.
Speaker: We have seen an update called from review to action in May this year. But again, without a detailed overview. And this means we are flying blind in this province. We have these really worrying trends, but no detailed updates that would allow the BC government to take action and course correct when necessary. Has there been any progress on protecting forests?
Speaker: We have seen a few steps in the right direction. Just this year, we had a really important announcement for the Clequod Sound region. It was hugely inspiring. Thanks to the nations in this region, 76 ,000 hectares got protected on Vancouver Island and a few other areas in the last year or two.
Speaker: but These are relatively modest steps regionally yeah that are not really changing the big picture. The big picture remains that less than 4 million hectares of the last old growth are fully protected from logging.
Speaker: We have another two million hectares deferred from logging but this is only a temporary step and we have not seen the leadership for the most at risk old growth forest with the really big trees.
Speaker: And now that we are getting close to an election, it's really important to keep in mind that these interim voluntary steps called deferral can be canceled by a new government. They can quickly be thrown out of the window after an election, after political changes. And we really need more leadership and acceleration on permanently protecting the last at risk old growth forest in this province.
Speaker: You gave the amount of old growth that is remaining in BC. Is that adequate to help biodiversity loss? Today, about 20 % remains old growth and that's really important to keep in mind that if you look at big tree ecosystems, Valley Bottom Forest, the numbers are much, much smaller. That's where we have single digits, in some cases just 1%.
Speaker: of big tree old growth left, for example, Douglas fir ecosystems are reduced to 1 % of their original extent and it's nowhere near enough. So we we really need to understand that forests in BC today are in recovery mode, that we have to reduce the rate of logging, we have to increase protection rapidly if we want to turn things around.
Speaker: Now, we have a lot of commitments since 2020 with the ah old growth strategic review, the 14 recommendations. Now we also have a draft biodiversity and ecosystem health framework, but it's a draft. and The provincial government had planned to have a final framework with a plan leading to biodiversity and ecosystem legislation co -developed with First Nations. All of this was supposed to be in place this year, a plan leading to this legislation, but we're still sitting with the draft.
Speaker: And that's just another example how all these bold promises are not really helping us on the ground without leadership, without timelines and deadlines to get the changes in place and enact the new laws and regulation. How have logging companies responded to efforts to protect oil growth?
Speaker: Well, we don't have a lot of transparency where deferrals are in place. Some listeners may remember there was a secret map that got leaked in the spring and it shows that the BC government has now removed a lot of the at -risk old growth forests that were recommended for deferrals.
Speaker: But so we don't have an overview tying where at -risk forest is off -limits tied to logging companies. That's missing. So the lack of transparency is really concerning. This is both a concern looking at the different regions, different ecosystems, different logging companies, some of them supporting the deferrals or not.
Speaker: And it's also a problem for First Nations who are between a rock and a hard place. They depend on logging revenue in in many cases, but we are still waiting for easy to access funding for these nations so they can really have a choice whether they want to defer logging of at -risk old growth in these ecosystems or continue with business as usual. So this lack of transparency is very concerning. You really have to look to some of the environmental organizations to find out where some logging companies continue to clear cut forests. One example is Stand dot .earth. They have a project called Forest Eye that offers regular updates where you you can see some of the specific cut blocks and which logging companies are responsible.
Speaker: Now, historically, old growth forests have been less impacted by fire than second growth. Is that still the case? It is still the case that old growth forests are more resilient and can better withstand climate change impacts. It depends a lot on the ecosystems. Generally speaking, coastal and inland temperate rainforest ecosystems are more resilient and can better withstand these impacts. Other ecosystems are already at risk for many years.
Speaker: And what we are seeing now is that this is slowly changing. So as we continue to burn fossil fuels and the planet continues to warm, we are in fact seeing some old rose forests also being impacted. It's important to keep in mind that in many natural ecosystems, fire is part of the ecosystem and the forest can recover after a fire.
Speaker: But we are really concerned about this double impact of ongoing unsustainable logging rates plus climate change impacts and the pressure to protect the remaining old growth, remaining intact forest landscapes is high because we know that climate change will continue and that we really have to pursue all strategies available to reduce emissions, ah to reduce impacts like droughts, floods, fire. And we are not seeing this at this point in time. So we have really useful promises and blueprints for the future, but we need to follow through from the BC government.
Speaker: They are by far the most powerful party in this context that can bring the funding and the leadership to the table to working with First Nations to allow a change in land use and increasing protection of at -risk forests.
Speaker: Now, you've talked about a lot of things that need to happen to help BC forests survive the impact of climate change, reducing logging rates, stronger support for First Nations to enable deferrals, climate impacts needs to be reduced. Is this on the radar for the parties running in the upcoming election?
Speaker: Well, as you know, we have a range of perspectives looking at the three major parties in the race. We are still waiting for the NDP platform with details on old growth. We hope that they will continue to work on the ah commitments made during the previous years, specifically the old growth strategic review.
Speaker: finalized the biodiversity and ecosystem health framework and a plan leading to legislation and so strong leadership on the nature agreement. So this is a really important commitment. BC committed to increasing protection to 30 % by 2030 across BC. and Really important to move forward across Canada and to inspire other parts of the world.
Speaker: And that's in stark contrast to the conservatives who went on record saying that they will not pursue 30 by 30, that they don't like the direction increasing protection to 30%. And on old growth and biodiversity, generally speaking, we have the BC NDP with ongoing commitments, but a big question mark around Will they accelerate action? Will they meet the deadlines in time to make it meaningful for the web of life to keep carbon stored in forests? Then we have the conservators generally undermining conservation commitments, threatening goals like 30 by 30. And we have the green party with strong emphasis on additional action like the old growth deferrals.
Speaker: really clear on making sure that First Nations get the additional support to pursue sustainable alternatives to old growth logging. This is the ongoing lack of clarity around the ah BC NDP government. Things have stalled in the last several years and Obviously, there's a lot of reasons to be concerned around the lack of commitment from the conservatives, the threat of losing a lot of the gains, the commitments, the promises that we have seen in the last few years. So it's a really difficult time for for voters to make a decision, but it's extremely important for anyone listening to.
Speaker: review additional resources, ask questions, use every opportunity you ask candidates where they stand on old -growth biodiversity here and fossil fuels. Because at the end of the day, without stronger climate action, cancelling or limiting additional fossil fuel development, it will be very difficult to protect forests and biodiversity. and We really need a stable climate to do that.
Speaker: Now on the topic of elections, you were interviewed for a recent article in The Guardian which spoke about how challenging the political cycle in Victoria is for First Nations trying to protect their land.
Speaker: Yes, the Guardian article talks about Serb Creek watershed and intact watershed in Wet'suwet 'en territory, and it makes it really clear that nations like the Wet'suwet 'en need clarity from provincial governments on support for protected areas, specifically indigenous protected and conserved areas.
Speaker: We are still waiting for a designation here in BC that fully respects the rights of indigenous peoples and the nations need certainty for planning. This election is a particularly dramatic example how a change in government could make it much, much harder for a nation to pursue a vision of protecting lands and waters. With the ongoing incentives and enabling conditions that support resource extraction and economic pressure on First Nations, it is difficult for them to realize the vision of protecting lands without that clarity.
Speaker: and There's a lot more that needs to be done to make it easier for nations to access funding, to find ways to enable designation that can legally protect the lands and waters from industrial threats and also fully respect their rights and ongoing use based on their traditional culture.
Speaker: Well, thank you so much for speaking with me today, Jens. Thank you. I've been speaking with Jens Wieting, Senior Policy and Science Advisor with Sierra Club BC.
Speaker: The Red Eye Collective is based in Vancouver. You can check us out at coopradio dot .org slash redeye.
