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Citation Nanwakolas Council, Coastal First Nations, BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. 2012. Ecosystem based management on BC's central and north coast (Great Bear Rainforest), Implementation Update Report, July 2012. FLNRO.
Organization FLNRO
URL https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/slrp/lrmp/nanaimo/central_north_coast/docs/EBM_Implementation%20Update_report_July%2031_2012.pdf
Abstract/Description or Keywords British Columbia’s Central and North Coast, also known as the Great Bear Rainforest, is an ecologically
significant region that includes one of the largest intact temperate rainforests on Earth. This area is the
traditional territory of First Nations people who have lived there for thousands of years and contains
many coastal communities. Its rich ecosystems support diverse economic activities, including forestry,
fishing and tourism.
The purpose of this document, developed collaboratively by the Province of British Columbia, the
Nanwakolas Council and Coastal First Nations, is to provide an update on the implementation of
“Ecosystem Based Management “or EBM, on the North and Central Coast of British Columbia.
Commitments for EBM emerged from the Land and Resource Management Planning processes (LRMPs)
which began in 1997 for the Central Coast and in 2001 for the North Coast. These planning processes
resulted in consensus recommendations being presented to the Province and First Nation governments -
in 2004 for the Central Coast, and 2005 for the North Coast.
Based on these recommendations and subsequent government-to-government (G2G) discussions
between the Province and First Nations, the Coast Land Use Decision was announced on February 7,
2006.1
. “The Decision” contained three key components:
1. A commitment to manage Crown land and resources under an Ecosystem Based Management
(EBM) approach (that is, concurrently working to achieve a high level of human well-being and a
low level of ecological risk);
2. Land Use Zoning comprising three zones2
: Conservancies; Biodiversity, Mining and Tourism
Areas (BMTAs); and the remainder of the land base which is termed the Ecosystem Based
Management (EBM) Operating Areas; and
3. An innovative collaborative governance system with formalized structures for Provincial/ First
Nations G2G collaboration, and engagement with key stakeholders.
Between February 2006 and March 2009, considerable work through science forums, local communities,
stakeholder dialogues and government-to-government negotiations led to a host of agreements and
commitments regarding the achievement of the two goals of ecosystem based management - high levels
of human well-being and low ecological risk over time.
For the purposes of the Decision, full implementation of EBM was further determined to include the
following five components:
1. A collaborative governance framework (section 2.1)
2. Socio-economic policies and Initiatives that seek to achieve high human well-being (section 2.2)
3. Conservation measures (section 2.3)
4. A collaborative adaptive management system (section 2.4)
5. Flexibility provisions (section 2.5)
On March 31, 2009, a joint announcement supported by all parties confirmed that the Province met its
commitment to establish and fully implement an EBM system for coastal B.C. The Province made a series of additional commitments to First Nations and key stakeholders for work that would be done in
the following five years to March 2014.
These include:
 Continuing the collaborative G2G Governance structure (section 3.1.1);
 Developing an Adaptive management framework (section 3.1.2);
 Collaborative stakeholder relationships (section 3.1.3);
 Project Management/administration (section 3.1.4);
 Continuing Conservancy Management planning (3.2.1);
 Establishing Grizzly bear management areas (section 3.2.2);
 Reviewing the 2009 Land Use Orders by March 31, 2014 and collaboratively developing a policy
for this review (section 3.2.3);
 Revising and refining the 2009 Land Use Orders (e.g. Grizzly bear map and edits) (section 3.2.3);
 Assessing the 2009 Land Use orders (section 3.2.3);
 Spatializing the Land Use objectives through the Landscape Reserve Planning project (3.2.4 and
3.2.5);
 Establishing the EBM data centre (section 3.2.6)
 Complete TEM mapping for the plan areas (section 3.2.7);
 Develop a Human well-being strategy (section 3.3); and
 Work on compensation, mitigation, chart impacts, and appraisal allowance/enabling conditions
(section 3.3.5)
Information Type report
Regional Watershed Central Coast
Sub-watershed if known
Aquifer #
Comments
Project status ongoing
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