Historic deal to protect Canada rainforest from logging

By Julie Gordon
VANCOUVER, Feb 1 (Reuters) - British Columbia is set to
announce on Monday an historic agreement to protect a massive
swath of rainforest along its coastline, having reached a deal
that marries the interests of First Nations, the logging
industry and environmentalists after a decade of often-tense
negotiations.
The agreement will see roughly 85 percent of forest within
the Great Bear Rainforest protected, with the other 15 percent
available for logging under the "most stringent" standards in
North America, environmental groups involved in the talks said.
The Great Bear Rainforest is one of the world's largest
temperate rainforests and the habitat of the Spirit Bear, a rare
subspecies of the black bear with white fur and claws. It is
also home to 26 Aboriginal groups, known as First Nations.
"Under this landmark agreement, more old and second growth
forest will be protected, while still ensuring opportunities for
economic development and jobs for local First Nations," said
Premier Christy Clark in a statement.
The province will introduce new laws to support the measures
later this year.
The Great Bear rainforest, which includes forests, waterways
and mountains, covers 6.4 million hectares of the province's
coast. More than half its surface is forest, including 2.3
million hectares of old-growth forest, which store high levels
of captured carbon.
In the 1990s, frustrated over what they saw as destructive
forestry practices on their traditional lands, First Nations
partnered with environmentalists to fight back against logging
companies, blockading roads and protesting.
By the early 2000s, environmental groups and industry
players, including Interfor Corp IFP.TO , Western Forest
Products Inc WEF.TO and Catalyst Paper Corp CYT.TO , had
started talks. At the same time, government began negotiating
with the Coastal First Nations and Nanwakolas Council.
The final agreements, reached more than a decade later, will
"help mitigate climate change, support improved community
well-being, and provide economic certainty to the forestry
sector," environmental groups that engaged in the process said.
The deal will also see the end of the commercial grizzly
bear hunt within Coastal First Nations territories, though other
existing tourism-related businesses will not be impacted.
"This full implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest
agreements is one of the most visionary forest conservation
plans on earth," said Valerie Langer, ForestEthics Solutions
Director, in a statement.
"It is a principled approach that sets a new legal and
science-based standard for sustaining healthy forests."
The announcement will come nearly two years after a landmark
Supreme Court decision that granted title to a vast swath of
British Columbia's interior to First Nations, who had gone to
court to stop logging in their traditional lands.
The Tsilhqot'in Decision, named for the bands involved, has
bolstered First Nations across the province, who now have a
legal precedence for fighting development on their traditional
territories.