Indigenous tribes, logging firms and environmental groups in Canada have struck a deal to protect one of the world’s largest tracts of temperate Rainforest.
The Great Bear Rainforest on the Pacific coast of British Columbia is home to many animals and ancient trees.
Importantly, Logging will be banned across a huge area of the forest.
Environmental campaigners say it is a model for resolving similar land-use disputes around the world.
The forest is inhabited by the spirit bear, a rare sub-species of the black bear with white fur, and is also home to 26 aboriginal groups, known as First Nations.
Its enormous habitat covers 32,000 sq km (12,000 sq miles) on the Pacific coast of Canada, helping purify both air and water, and is an unspoiled home to grizzly bears, wolves and cougars.
Let us hope this deal paves the way to Stop any future plans for oil or gas exploration or any pipelines throgh the region?
“Our leaders understand our wellbeing is connected to the wellbeing of our lands and waters,” said Chief Marilyn Slett, president of Coastal First Nations.
“If we use our knowledge and our wisdom to look after our lands and waters and communities, they will look after us into the future.”
The announcement comes nearly two years after a landmark Supreme Court decision that granted title to a vast swath of British Columbia’s interior to the Tsilhqot’in First Nations, who had gone to court to stop logging in their traditional lands.
That decision has bolstered First Nations across the province, who now have a legal precedent for fighting development on their territories.
Comments please….
Sources: