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Tag Archive for: climate emergency

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Sierra Club BC on heat wave and climate action

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June 28, 2021

Please be advised that Sierra Club BC’s Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting is available to comment on B.C.’s current heat wave and the urgent need for climate emergency policies that address both climate pollution and impacts.

“We can fool ourselves, but we can’t fool the atmosphere. The current heat wave is a reminder that time is running out. B.C.’s lack of climate action has severe consequences that are already being felt today. We need immediate policy change guided by what science shows is needed to save life as we know it.”

 

For background, see the following related items:

  • BC failing to do its part to address the global climate and biodiversity crisis — Canada’s recent National Inventory Report shows that B.C.’s emissions have increased every single year since 2014 and reached 65.7 million tonnes of CO2 in 2019.  LINK TO MEDIA RELEASE
     
  • Critical report shows current BC logging practices increase climate disaster risks for BC communities — Forest conservation, forestry reforms, and Indigenous expertise and knowledge are urgently needed to mitigate climate disaster risks like heat waves. LINK TO MEDIA RELEASE
     
  • Sierra Club BC calls on provincial government to end silence about skyrocketing forest emissions — B.C. government’s own data show total greenhouse gas emissions for 2018 are more than three times larger than official numbers, when including uncounted emissions from “forest management.” LINK TO MEDIA RELEASE 

 

 

Media contact:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

 

 

Photo: Mya Van Woudenberg/Sierra Club BC

Independent Advisory Panel could be turning point for the fate of at-risk old-growth forests

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Immediate deferrals, political will and funding will determine success

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

June 24, 2021 

Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) (VANCOUVER, BC) — Sierra Club BC believes the creation of an independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, which was announced by the B.C. government today, could be a turning point for the fate of at-risk old-growth forests amid a delayed implementation of the promised paradigm-shift in forest stewardship in B.C. Overcoming this government’s history of ignoring the best-available science and playing politics with advisory boards will require political will and clear direction.  

“Last fall, the B.C. government promised to implement a paradigm-shift in forest stewardship, but to date it has failed to deliver the most pressing first step – to stop the bleeding and use interim mechanisms to ensure the most endangered old-growth forests are not being logged while forest management in B.C. shifts from a focus on timber values to one of respecting ecological limits,” said Sierra Club BC Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting. 

“This advisory panel combined with leadership from the B.C. government will allow the province to implement a precautionary approach. This requires deferring logging in all at-risk forests in the short-term to buy time to work with Indigenous decision makers on long-term designations that respect Indigenous rights and title. Speeding up change on the ground also requires funding for Indigenous-led conservation solutions and a just transition for forestry workers,” added Wieting. 

“It’s hard to get excited about steps like this when this government has gone from talk and log politics to predatory delay.  Out of one side of their mouth, they hide behind First Nations, while out the other side they actively push old-growth forest referrals through band offices and profit off of BC Timber Sales logging in territories they don’t have consent to operate in.  Science is always celebrated, but political courage is what we need most,” said Sierra Club BC Coastal Projects Lead Mark Worthing. 

”The unprecedented heatwave currently enveloping Turtle Island is a brutal reminder of how little time we have to safeguard what remains intact of our best ally in the fight against the climate and biodiversity crisis. Intact, carbon-rich, resilient old-growth forests are our best defense against the ravages of climate change such as heatwaves, drought and wildfires. The web of life that depends on these forests cannot withstand more industrial devastation combined with climate change impacts,” added Wieting.  

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For more information about the B.C. governments’ independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel go here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021FLNRO0043-001225


Media contacts:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

Mark Worthing, Coastal Projects Lead | Sierra Club BC
mark@sierraclub.bc.ca

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

Sierra Club BC reacts to Premier Horgan’s Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek and Central Walbran deferral announcement

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

June 9, 2021 

Sierra Club BC Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner Jens Wieting offers the following statement in response to today’s deferral announcements. 

“Hearing first from the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations and now from the province that old-growth logging will be deferred for two years in the Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek watershed and the Central Walbran gives us a glimpse of hope for two small but highly endangered old-growth forest areas on Vancouver Island. 

“But studying the maps shared today by the B.C. government is a sobering experience and shows a consistent pattern: Minimize conservation, even temporary deferrals, to the absolute minimum; defend timber access as much as possible. 

“Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek is a dramatic example for this pattern, with hundreds of hectares of intact contiguous old-growth adjacent to the watershed left out of the deferral area. The province even insisted on creating a Zone B to allow for some degree of logging in the watershed.  

“The BC NDP government shows great creativity to defend business as usual and almost none when it comes to enabling communities and First Nations to protect the last old-growth forests. 

“At the current pace, the B.C. government will not be able to win the race to save what’s left and restore what’s damaged for future generations. The April 2020 old-growth panel recommendations included one indispensable step that came with an expiry date – defer logging in all at-risk old-growth forests within six months. Any further delay would be irresponsible.  

“In May, after a year of almost no action to protect at-risk forests, a group of independent experts shared a map with the province that used criteria from the old-growth panel report to identify the most endangered forests that need immediate deferrals from logging. Their maps show 1.3 million hectares of forests that need interim protection, 2.6 percent of all forests in B.C.  

“Today’s deferral announcement for Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek and Central Walbran adds up to 2,000 hectares or 0.15 percent of the forests that need interim protection. Almost all at-risk forests across the province remain open for logging, including thousands of hectares on Southern Vancouver Island.” 

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For more information about the deferral map developed by independent experts go here: https://sierraclub.bc.ca/new-map-of-at-risk-old-growth-forests-in-bc-is-a-first-step/ 


Media contact:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

 

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

Sierra Club BC: New map of at-risk old-growth forests in BC is a first step towards solutions

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At-risk old-growth still unprotected, as RCMP clears path for logging companies on Vancouver Island

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 19, 2021

Unceded Coast Salish Territories (VANCOUVER, BC) — Independent researchers, forester Dave Daust and forest ecologists Dr. Rachel Holt and Dr. Karen Price, have taken the next step towards solutions for B.C.’s old-growth crisis and developed a provincial map showing the 1.3 million hectares of old-growth stands that are most at risk and in need of immediate deferrals from logging.

The B.C.-based experts used the criteria from the independent old-growth panel recommendations that the provincial government promised to implement last fall but has so far failed to enact. The suggested deferrals would give temporary protection to 2.6 percent of B.C.’s total forest area.

The map shows the last old-growth forests with big, tall trees; in addition, old-growth forest ecosystems that are now below an alarming threshold (less than 10 percent of their original extent), as well as particularly old or ‘ancient’ stands that are currently without protection.

This new map is being shared the same week that the RCMP has started to arrest forest defenders and clear a path for logging companies targeting at-risk old-growth forests in the Fairy Creek and Caycuse areas in the territories of Pacheedaht and Ditidaht Nations. Despite containing at-risk old-growth forests, large swaths of these areas remain open to logging over one year after the province received the recommendations calling for deferrals.

“Provincial inaction has forced the hand of Indigenous leadership to call for deferrals on all remaining old-growth lands. In a time of crisis, we are seeing old-growth percentages dropping by the day and we don’t have time to wait for the province any longer,” said hereditary Kwakwaka’wakw chief An’anxwisa’gamayi, Mak’wala, Rande Cook.

“This science-based map building on the provincial old-growth panel report is the crucial missing step to enable emergency interim protection for the most endangered at-risk forests. Using deferrals, the B.C. government can ensure sufficient time for a sincere process with Indigenous governments to identify what support is needed for communities and Nations that seek to protect the last old-growth forests instead of logging it for short-term relief,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s Forest and Climate Campaigner.

The B.C. government promised to fully implement the recommendations from the old-growth panel in October 2020. The panel’s top recommendations include more collaboration between provincial and Indigenous governments, deferrals for at-risk forests within six months, a transition plan to support forest-dependent communities, and a paradigm shift to safeguard biodiversity and the ecological integrity of all forests in B.C.

“I wouldn’t even call what the Horgan government is doing talk and log anymore. With the scientific consensus in place, they are now engaged in the politics of predatory delay. Deferrals are what make space for a safe conversation to cultivate public trust and free, prior and informed consent for the future of old-growth forests and biodiversity. Without indigenous consent and science-based deferrals all we’re left with is an outcome designed to please greedy logging corporations above all else,” said Mark Worthing, Sierra Club BC’s Coastal Projects Lead.

More than one year after the B.C. government received the recommendations, old-growth logging continues unabated, almost all at-risk old-growth forest remains without protection, and the provincial government has moved to increase the number of cutting permits compared to last year.

Additionally, the provincial government didn’t include funding to increase protection in the 2021 budget and there is no sign of a transition plan to support communities faced with the inevitable end of old-growth logging in coming years.

“This new expert map offers the B.C. government an opportunity to take the first step towards the promised paradigm-shift for ecological integrity for forests, and away from the abyss of ecological and cultural collapse,” added Wieting.

“Immediate deferrals for the most endangered old-growth forests would allow for government-to-government dialogue about the future of old-growth in B.C. without time pressure and the risk of losing more critical stands. It would also demonstrate that the province takes the public’s interest more seriously than short-term profit for logging corporations and deescalate the conflicts we are seeing on Southern Vancouver Island and elsewhere.”

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Maps and backgrounder are available at: https://veridianecological.ca/old-growth-resilience/ 


Media contacts:

Rande Cook, An’anxwisa’gamayi, Mak’wala
Randecook07@gmail.com, (250) 704-6777

Mark Worthing, Coastal Projects Lead | Sierra Club BC
mark@sierraclub.bc.ca, (250) 889-3575

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

This map shows the best 3% of tall and large OLD forests for every forested ecosystem, mapped ancient forests and rare forests, and the mapped harvest history in the province.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

Sierra Club BC reacts to court decision on Fairy Creek injunction application by Teal Jones

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Sierra Club BC statement in response to today’s court decision on the injunction application by logging company Teal-Jones Group to remove Fairy Creek/Ada’itsx forest defenders.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 1, 2021

Sierra Club BC is calling on the B.C. government to speed up solutions to avert imminent risk of losing irreplaceable at-risk ecosystems after court grants injunction to Teal-Jones logging company, clearing the path to clearcutting in one of the last intact old-growth areas on Vancouver Island.

“The confrontation between logging company Teal-Jones and forest defenders in court is the result of the ongoing failure of the provincial government to follow through on their promise and deliver solutions to protect globally rare and endangered old-growth forest like the spectacularly intact Fairy Creek rainforest in Pacheedaht territory,” said Sierra Club BC senior forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting.

“This whole issue is a continuation of the provincial government pitting Indigenous bands (as defined by the Indian Act) against the people making up the Nations that those bands are said to govern. This is the same colonial government that removes Indigenous people from the land and diminishes their ability to be self-sustaining by way of displacement. These policies coerce Indigenous Nations to choose between financial impoverishment and the impoverishment of land and resources,” said Ma̱k’wa̱la – Dakota Smith, Sierra Club BC’s forest relations coordinator.

“Without leadership from the provincial government, including adequate funding to First Nations and forestry dependent communities that currently see no alternative to logging the last old-growth trees for short-term relief, there is no hope for the promised paradigm-shift in forest management,” added Wieting. “Support for Indigenous-led conservation solutions and transition in the forestry sector is paramount to give communities a real choice, prepare for the inevitable end of old-growth logging and to safeguard natural life support systems that we have brought so close to collapse.”

Earlier this month, Sierra Club BC partnered with Ancient Forest Alliance and Wilderness Committee to issue a report card assessing the B.C. government’s progress on protecting old-growth forests. March 11, 2021 marked exactly six months since the provincial government published the report from its independent old-growth panel, followed by the promise of Premier John Horgan to implement the panel’s recommendations in “totality”.

The panel called for a paradigm-shift to safeguard the biodiversity of forests in B.C. with a three-year framework, including logging deferrals for all at-risk old-growth forests within the first six months. Half a year later almost all at-risk forests remain open for logging and the B.C. government has not developed a plan with milestone dates and funding, leaving First Nations and forestry workers with uncertainty about whether conservation, economic diversification and the transition to sustainable second-growth forestry will be adequately funded.

Meanwhile, the province is locking in species extirpation, climate disaster and new conflict by auctioning new cutblocks in old-growth forests through its own agency, BC Timber Sales, including 927 hectares on Vancouver Island alone in 2021.

“Once again, our government has made promises it chooses not to fulfill. This time it not only failed its Indigenous constituents, but also forestry workers, specifically loggers, by refusing to take swift action. This failure will leave the Indigenous Nations here without access to traditional regalia and canoes. It will also leave the next generation of forestry workers in an unstable job sector,” added Ma̱k’wa̱la – Dakota Smith.

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Information about the March 11 report card and a backgrounder can be found here


Media contacts:

Jens Wieting, Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner | Sierra Club BC
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca, (604) 354-5312

Ma̱k’wa̱la – Dakota Smith, Forest Relations Coordinator | Sierra Club BC
makwala@sierraclub.bc.ca, (250) 514-7800

 

Photo by TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance

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