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Over 100 Scientists Urge Hamm to Protect Public LandsMarch 20, 2001"to do anything less will lead to further loss of plant and wildlife species" Halifax - Premier John Hamm has received a letter signed by 108 scientists urging the Province to overhaul its new long term land use plan for Crown lands. The controversial Integrated Resource Management (IRM) plan was proposed by the Department of Natural Resources last fall. It triggered fierce opposition from environmentalists, hunters and anglers, the tourism industry, and recreational users who say the process was stacked in favour of the forest industry. The plan calls for over 10,000 km2 of publicly owned Crown forests to be available for logging and other development despite unfulfilled Government Commitments to protect more land. The scientists' letter says the IRM plan fails to provide a sufficient framework to protect biodiversity and will lead to the loss of plant and wildlife species in Nova Scotia. "The Natural Resources plan does not incorporate modern conservation science," said Dr. Karen Beazley, a wildlands expert with the Science and Management of Protected Areas Association. "It does not place enough emphasis on the protection of adequate habitat area and quality to protect viable populations of native species over time." The scientists say Nova Scotia has too little protected land to accommodate ecological and evolutionary processes. Any new plan, they say, needs to add many large tracts of Crown land to the provincial protected areas network. The letter urges the Province to declare a road building and development moratorium on all remaining Crown wildlands over 200 hectares (2 km2) and on several Protected Areas until a scientifically defensible plan can be completed. Dr. Martin Willison, an ecology professor at the School for Resource and Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University, says conservation biologists worldwide are nearly unanimous that regional land use plans need to protect large tracts of land to be sustainable. "IRM is a poor planning framework because it doesn't recognize this fact. It's fundamentally flawed." Conservationists hope the strong message from Nova Scotia's scientific community will cause the Province to reassess the current planning process for Crown lands. "Natural Resources has been assuring elected members that their plan is sustainable. This letter is a strong statement that the science doesn't back that up," according to Kermit deGooyer of the Ecology Action Centre. "We hope the Premier will take the scientists' warning seriously and lend his support to overhauling the plan." The scientists' letter, signatories, and background information is posted at: www.publicland.ca (click on "Scientists' Statement of Concern"). Most of the scientists are Nova Scotia residents with expertise in ecology, planning, and related fields. Other signatories include Dr. David Suzuki and American Dr. Michel Soule, regarded by many scientists as the "Founder of the Science of Conservation Biology". Nova Scotia has completed less than half of its 1992 Endangered Spaces Commitment to protect wilderness in every region of the province by 2000. Statement of ConcernFebruary 2001 The Honourable John Hamm Premier of Nova ScotiaPO Box 726 1700 Granville St. Halifax, N.S. B3J 2T3 Re: Statement of concern from scientists on biodiversity protection and Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Integrated Resource Management (IRM) process Dear Hon. Dr. Hamm: WHEREAS preserving earth's biodiversity, upon which the future of humankind and all life on the planet rests, will be humanity's greatest challenge of the 21st century; WHEREAS the Nova Scotia government has not yet lived up fully to various political and legal commitments to protect biodiversity; WHEREAS wild areas protected from development prevent the loss, fragmentation, and degradation of natural habitat, which is the leading cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss; WHEREAS wild areas provide free ecological services vital to the survival and well-being of humankind including the preservation of clean air, water, and soil, and the regulation of hydrological, nutrient and climatic cycles; WHEREAS Nova Scotia's existing protected areas are too small, too few, and too isolated to accommodate natural ecological and evolutionary processes, including migration and recruitment; WHEREAS current extractive land use practices on Crown lands are incompatible with the protection of biodiversity; WHEREAS the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources was given responsibility in 1994 to complete a long-term land use plan for over one million hectares of Crown land, called the Integrated Resource Management (IRM) Plan; and WHEREAS the current IRM Plan fails to provide a credible framework for biodiversity protection in Nova Scotia; BE IT RESOLVED THAT We, the undersigned members of Nova Scotia's scientific community call on the Provincial government to develop and implement a comprehensive biodiversity conservation plan based in modern conservation science. Accordingly, we call on the Government of Nova Scotia to:
It is our opinion that to do anything less will lead to further loss of plant and wildlife species and habitat, landscape diversity, and quality of life for Nova Scotians. Please let us know at your earliest convenience how you intend to address this urgent matter. Sincerely, [Signatories as of March 2001]
The Integrated Resource Management Process and Conservation Science: Political Commitments and Ecological Perspective18 September, 2000Several agreements commit the Government of Nova Scotia to develop a long-range plan to protect biodiversity and provide for the sustainable use of natural resources in the Province. While some important progress has been made on fulfilling these commitments, serious shortcomings exist. The provincial IRM planning process should be a vehicle for fulfilling biodiversity commitments. Unfortunately, the proposed IRM plan protects far too little Crown land and fails to adequately address impacts from extractive uses such as logging and mining. A Statement of Commitment to complete Canada's Networks of Protected Areas, also known as the Tri-Council Agreement (1992), is a public statement of political will to complete Canada's networks of protected natural areas by the year 2000 and identify and protect critical wildlife habitat. It is endorsed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, the Canadian Parks Ministers' Council, and the Wildlife Ministers' Council of Canada (1991). The Canadian Biodiversity Strategy is a response to obligations in the Green Plan (1990) and as a signatory to the International Convention on Biological Diversity. A goal of the strategy is to conserve biodiversity through the maintenance of viable populations of native species, completion of networks of protected areas, restoration and rehabilitation, and maintenance of connectivity among habitat in the broader landscape. The Sustainable Development Strategy for Nova Scotia (1992) calls for the protection of 12 percent of the land and water base. A Proposed Systems Plan for parks and protected Areas in Nova Scotia calls for representation of all 80 natural landscape types and the maintenance of biological diversity through broader landscape planning and management. The systems plan also includes proposed future actions toward protecting International Biological Program sites and other significant areas as ecological reserves under the Special Places Protection Act (1989). Gap analysis to identify unrepresented or under-represented natural landscape types is described. This plan was widely endorsed by the citizens of Nova Scotia through the 26 public meetings and many written comments. The Wilderness Areas Protection Act (1998) explicitly lists the maintenance of biodiversity and the integrity of natural processes as its first objective. Further, industry-related documents such as the National Forest Strategy (1997) and Whitehorse Mining Initiative (1994) recognize the commitment to protect biodiversity, including the protection of critical wildlife habitat. The Province has also implemented An Act Respecting Endangered Species, Bill No. 51 (1996), and federal Species at Risk legislation is pending. The government of Nova Scotia has the responsibility to fulfill its obligations and commitments to protecting biodiversity, endangered species, and natural landscape representivity. The greatest threat to biodiversity is the loss, conversion, degradation and fragmentation of habitat. After having selected 31 areas of provincial Crown land for protection under its Wilderness Areas Act, the provincial Department of Natural Resources (DNR) began a planning process, called Integrated Resource Management (IRM). The goal of this exercise is to examine resource conflicts and determine long-term land-use objectives on over one million hectares of Crown land. Many areas which had been considered for protection as Wilderness Areas within the protected areas system planning process were rejected because of resource commitments. For this reason, the IRM planning process was to include the possibility of additional protection of wilderness areas in a planning category called "C3" or "Protected and Limited Use Areas." Other Crown lands are classified under IRM as either "C1" ("General Resource Use Areas"), or "C2" ("Multiple and Adaptive Use Areas"). C1 areas are deemed by the DNR to have a low level of "resource conflicts," and the full range of land uses (i.e., logging and mining) will be allowed. C2 areas are deemed to have a higher level of conflict and certain land uses may be limited or modified. Very little, if any, additional Crown land has been recommended for protection in the IRM process; in fact, some Crown lands which had previously been designated as park reserves have had protection stripped, and almost no lands which had been previously identified as having significant natural values have been classified as C3. Even though the IRM document, Managing Natural Resources on Crown Land (1997), acknowledges the need to base planning on ecological units to "facilitate such principles as sustainable resources use and maintenance of biodiversity," the current IRM plan, will not protect biodiversity in Nova Scotia. By way of example, the DNR's Long Range Management Plan for Crown land in the Stanley area demonstrates the flaws in the IRM process. The Long Range Management Plan map for the Stanley block, one of the larger areas of contiguous Crown land in Central Nova Scotia, shows an area heavily dedicated to logging, with not a single protected area. Indeed, not an acre of the natural landscape type represented here (Central Clay Plains) is protected. Continuation of other private industrial activities, such as peat moss extraction, and possible commercial blueberry harvest, are also likely under this plan. Only 8% of the Stanley block is designated as old forest area, which is far too little to support old growth dependent species, even if these areas were connected via corridors. This is not a plan conducive to ecological and biological recovery from decades of abuse, which is required in this area of Nova Scotia (for example, the plan does not consider lynx, pine marten and moose which have been extirpated from this area). On the contrary, the plan demonstrates that the IRM vision is one of continued over-exploitation, conversion, fragmentation and degradation of the natural landscape. Protected areas and other areas managed for biodiversity objectives are necessary for the maintenance of genetic, population, species, and community diversity. In order for natural processes such as speciation and evolution to continue, areas of habitat protection must be large enough to maintain ecological integrity. It is important that there be adequate connectivity among protected areas to allow for the migration and recruitment of species over the landscape. It is paramount that protected areas of habitat do not become islands where species are isolated, as this assures or greatly increases the chances of extinction over time. Enough area needs to be protected or managed for biodiversity objectives to represent all natural landscape types and maintain ecological integrity. Ecological integrity requires maintenance of: natural processes such as succession, water and nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration; viable populations of the full compliment of native species; and compatible human uses. Viable populations of native species require a minimum critical amount and quality of habitat area. These areas must be determined, identified and taken into account in all land management planning decisions. The onus should be on government and industry to prove that the cumulative effects of incremental land use activities are not threatening populations of native species and other critical life-supporting ecological processes. These objectives cannot be achieved within Nova Scotia's current 31 Wilderness Areas alone. These areas are too few, too small, and too isolated from one another to sustain biodiversity. Currently, only 23 of the 80 natural landscape types are considered to be "satisfactorily" represented in existing National and Provincial Parks and Wilderness Areas using the DNR's own criteria. Even the landscape types considered satisfactorily represented, where "satisfactorily" means 12% is protected, do not capture the full spectrum of biodiversity within these areas. The Province also needs initiatives to facilitate the protection of private lands, with special attention paid to natural landscape regions in which there is little Crown land. Such measures could include tax incentives for conservation easements and revision of the Municipal Planning Act to encourage protection of a planned system of natural lands. Given that almost 70% of Nova Scotia is privately owned, private land conservation is vital to biodiversity and natural landscape protection. The implications of impending climate change for many species may be severe. It is essential that adequate habitat be protected to allow for varied responses to future changes in the temperature and moisture regimes, such as opportunities for species migration and dispersal. This again requires large, connected areas of protected habitat, as well as the protection of the full range of all natural landscape types. Further, maintaining areas of forest and other natural cover will help buffer the impacts of climate change through carbon sequestration and filtering. In light of the inadequate understanding of how species do, and will, respond to environmental changes, a precautionary and prudent approach is necessary. Significant new protected areas (C3 lands) must be included in the IRM plan. Additionally, biodiversity objectives and criteria must be more meaningfully incorporated into the management of C1 and C2 lands. Biodiversity objectives and maintenance of ecological integrity should be the fundamental underlying criteria for planning and management decisions on all Crown lands. The products and processes of evolution represent the life-support system of humankind and all species, and are the foundation of all social and economic systems. For more information please contact: Karen Beazley, Ph.D.Assistant Professor School for Resource and Environmental Studies Dalhousie University Halifax, NS B3H 3J5 Telephone: 902.494.1383
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© Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition, Ecology Action Centre, 2006 |
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