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The way forward

The Government of Nova Scotia has yet to fulfill its national and international commitments to adequetly protect our natural legacy. By the government's own admission, only 23 of the 80 landscapes are adequately protected so far. There is still a long way to go to complete Nova Scotia's Protected Areas Network. Unfortunately, progress has been stalled for the last several years with the introduction of the Integrated Resource Management (IRM) process. IRM is only a departmental policy, and regardless of the fact that it is biased towards resource extraction (keeping almost 80% of our Public Land open to be mined, logged or developed), IRM does not have the authority or mechanisms to legally protect Public Land in Nova Scotia.

The only way to guarantee long-term protection of Public Land in Nova Scotia is to establish more protected areas using existing legislation. The Wilderness Areas Protection Act and the Special Places Protection Act are the two pieces of legislation specifically designed for this purpose. In fact, Nova Scotia's Wilderness Areas Protection Act has been widely recognized as one of the finest pieces of legislation of its kind in the country. The government of Nova Scotia needs to establish more Wilderness Areas and Special Places if we are to have a hope of conserving Nova Scotia's wild heritage for our children, and for our children's children.

In the absence of the government doing its job and selecting new Wilderness Areas for protection, the Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition has identified 18 "hotspots" throughout Nova Scotia, which if protected, would go a long way to completing the Protected Areas Network in Nova Scotia.

In a speech at the annual Nova Scotia Nature Trust fundraising dinner in Halifax in November 2003 the president of World Wildlife Fund Canada, Monte Hummel, had this to say about the state of land conservation in Nova Scotia:

"The fact is that Nova Scotia is lagging behind its commitment to complete a representative network of protected areas, more needs to be done, and time is of the essence. WWF's Nature Audit, released in May of this year, indicated clearly that Nova Scotia has very little intact wilderness to choose from, so you have to save the best of what's left quickly before it's gone. There are many important areas on Crown land that could and should be protected, for example the Nova Scotia Public Land Coalition's list of 18 hot spots which would go a long way towards meeting outstanding provincial commitments. If the Coalition's candidates were delivered, you would reach adequate or moderate ecological representation for about two-thirds of Nova Scotia's landscape features. The results would be remarkable, and would help Nova Scotia regain its lead in conservation in Canada."

What is needed now is an updated Action Plan from government that identifies specific target areas for protection, sets deadlines for designations, and offers an open public consultation process. Moratoriums on all resource extraction and development must be also be enacted on all proposed areas, as well as on other significant wilderness areas on Public Land which could become candidates. These areas require a 'time out' while their fate is determined. One of the greatest fears is that the few remaining intact publicly owned wilderness areas will be destroyed before they can be set aside for conservation. We need to complete the Protected Areas Network, before we destroy the very foundation upon which needs to be built.

Public support for protecting more Public Land is significant and growing. To add your voice to those beginning to speak up on this issue click here to go to the Take Action section.