The Great Bear Rainforest

• The Great Bear Rainforest is the largest tract of unprotected intact coastal temperate rainforest left on Earth (over eight million hectares: two thirds the size of England).
• It includes a vast riparian system of over 100 unlogged large watersheds and sustains 20 percent of the world’s wild salmon population.
• The Great Bear Rainforest supports tremendous biodiversity including grizzly bears, black bears, white spirit bears, unique wolf populations, six million migratory birds, three thousand genetically distinct salmon stocks, and a multitude of unique botanical resources.

Conservation Commitments

• In February 2006, the Province committed to create 107 new protected areas in the North and Central Coast under a new conservancy.
• As a result, 5 million acres (2 million hectares) of that portion of the Great Bear Rainforest will be protected from logging.
• In addition to the protected areas, a commitment has been made to implement a new land management regime called ecosystem-based management (EBM) throughout the Central and North Coast by 2009.
• EBM is a new approach to resource planning developed by an independent science team jointly funded by the Province, logging companies, First Nations and environmentalists.
• It integrates ecological, economic and social purposes and is designed to work as a management and planning regime that first looks at what is needed to be left in place to allow for a healthy ecosystem and then looks at what can be taken out.
• All parties have committed to complete full implementation of EBM by March 31, 2009.

The Conservation Investments and Incentives Initiative (CIII)

• CIII is a remarkable multi-party collaboration between coastal First Nations, leading environmental groups (ForestEthics, Greenpeace, Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter and The Nature Conservancy); the forest industry; the philanthropic community; and the Governments of British Columbia and Canada.
• The key element of the conservation financing program developed through CIII is grant funding for up to $120 million designed to support conservation management and economic development.
• CIII recognizes that preserving ecological integrity, promoting sustainable economic development, and meeting community needs are interdependent and must be advanced in unison.
• Private funds will flow to a conservation endowment fund, dedicated solely to conservation management, science and stewardship jobs in First Nations’ communities. Public funds will be used for investments in ecologically-sustainable business ventures within First Nations’ territories or communities.
• The grant funds consist of:
• $60 million in private capital that will support conservation management by coastal First Nations;
• $60 million in federal and provincial government seed funding for conservation-based economic development on the coast.

The Land Use Planning Process

• Consensus land use recommendations for the Central and North Coast were forged by ForestEthics, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter, the logging, mining and tourism industries, labour unions, local communities and other sectors, and forwarded to governments in 2004. These formed the basis for final land use discussions between the Province and coastal First Nations.
• On February 7, 2006, a majority of the coastal First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest and the Province announced agreements on land use designations for the Central Coast and the North Coast.
• The First Nations that have reached land use agreements with the Province include:
• Gitga'at Nation
• Heiltsuk Nation
• Metlakatla Nation
• 'Namgis Nation
• Tlowitsis  Nation
•  We Wai Kai Nation
• We Wai Kum
• Haisla Nation
• Kitasoo/Xaixais Nation
• Wuiknuxv Nation
• Mamalilikulla-Qwe'Qwa'Sot'Em Nation
• Da'naxda'xw Nation
• Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nation
• Kwiakah Nation