Biodiversity: How will BC protect 30% of the province by 2030?

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The mudflats near Chesterman Beach and along Browning Passage near Tofino may seem ordinary and unassuming, but they are rich in their diversity of invertebrates, eels, and algae, and are worth preserving as BC tries to protect 30 percent of the province by 2030.

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They are among 175 sites identified by the environmental group Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada as areas of high biodiversity or “key biodiversity areas” in BC that it highlighted at the conclusion of the United Nations conference on biodiversity, COP 15, in Montreal. .

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They are of “disproportionate importance to nature,” said Ian Adams, BC coordinator for Wildlife Conservation’s Key Biodiversity Areas project.

Canada signed the landmark COP 15 agreement to conserve 30 percent of the planet to protect biodiversity, so the WCS Canada list is not so much a guide as an additional resource for Canada’s minister of water, land and resource management. BC, Nathan Cullen. who holds office in this province.

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Cullen was not available for an interview, but his staff, in an unattributed statement, called analyzes by WCS and other nongovernmental groups “important in helping guide the selection of conservation opportunities that complement knowledge, interests, and needs of First Nations and local communities”.

Prime Minister David Eby put the “30 by 30” target, as it is called for short, on Cullen’s term. He will work with the federal government, indigenous peoples and communities to protect key areas, including indigenous protected areas.

Staff noted that BC has already protected habitat in some of the key biodiversity areas that WCS has identified, such as wildlife management areas in the Fraser River estuary, including in the Tofino marshes.

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However, the ministry is “in the process of developing specific guidance that will help us identify good candidate projects,” to reach 25 percent by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030.

However, that will be a major hurdle considering that only 15 percent of BC’s land rests in parks and protected areas, including those that are governed by indigenous people.

Indigenous leadership in conservation was highlighted as key to reaching the 30 percent targets, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed $800 million over seven years to create seven indigenous-led conservation projects covering one million square kilometers of land, including one in the waters of the Central Coast’s Great Bear Rainforest.

BC indigenous leaders welcomed the goal, but criticized COP 15 for leaving Indigenous Peoples out of the decision-making process.

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“Without full consideration of our title and rights, the 30×30 frame has all the hallmarks of green colonialism,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the British Columbia Union of Indian Chiefs said in a statement.

In a recent conservation program in British Columbia, the Tahltan First Nation led the effort to protect 35 square kilometers on the eastern slope of Mount Edziza in the extreme northwest of the province, which had been left out of the 2,300 square kilometer Mount Edziza Provincial Park. .

Under the terms of that agreement, Tahltan renamed the additional area Tenh Dẕetle (Ice Mountain) Conservancy.

Terry Teegee, BC regional head for the Assembly of First Nations, said that while Indigenous Peoples from around the world attended COP 15 as observers, “final decision-making is out of our hands,” even though the signatories had also ratified the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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From the perspective of the Wildlife Conservation Society, indigenous leadership is critical, said Peter Soroye, outreach coordinator for the Key Biodiversity Area project.

“We’re trying to create information that is useful at a local scale, so the core of all our identification is that we need not just species and site experts and knowledge holders involved in development, but also communities around the site.” especially indigenous communities, Soroye said.

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