Breakthrough for new protected forests in Nova Scotia!
December 22, 2009Halifax -- CPAWS welcomes the announcement today by the Nova Scotia government that it will move ahead on the recommendations of industry leaders and environmentalists to expand the protected area system in Nova Scotia. Named in honour of a conservation leader, over five years industry and conservation members of the Colin Stewart Forest Forum (CSFF) worked out a mutually agreeable proposal for the creation of new protected areas and mitigation options to lessen potential impacts on the forest industry.
“This is a landmark agreement for conservation in Nova Scotia”, says Chris Miller, a senior CPAWS conservation manager based in Nova Scotia, who was an original participant the forum. “We’ve put aside some of our differences with the forest industry, decided to work together and come up with solutions to protect more land. And, we’ve done that. Together, we’ve identified the highest priority lands for conservation and come up with a number of strategies to lessen potential impacts on the forest industry.”
Adds Miller, “CPAWS is proud to have been a founding member of the CSFF and a full participant in these multi-year negotiations. Together with our colleagues at the Ecology Action Centre (EAC), we’ve worked to ensure that the highest priority sites for conservation are recommended for protection through the CSFF negotiations.”
In total, about 269,000 hectares of public and private lands owned by forest companies were identified by the Forum members as a priority for the creation of new protected areas. The CSFF report provides a clear path for the Nova Scotia government to achieve its legislated target of legally protecting 12% of the provincial landmass by 2015.
The CSFF participants presented the final report to the provincial government in November and are calling on the government to implement the recommendations. The province has already taken several important steps to ensure that the CSFF recommendations are implemented, including allocating $80million in new funding to acquire lands from the forest companies for conservation and advancing the legal protection of several important areas on Crown land, such as Chignecto. Previously, the provincial government also set-up the Nova Scotia Crown Share Land Legacy Trust, which provides $23 million in matching funding for land trusts for the purchase and protection of ecologically-significant private lands.
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View backgrounder
http://cpawsns.org/news/2009/12/landmark_conservation_agreemen.php.
For more information, contact:
Chris Miller, Ph.D.
National Manager,
Wilderness Conservation and Climate Change
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
(902) 446-4155
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