How we use Canada’s land is vital to the sustainability of our communities and decision making must reflect today’s issues.
That’s the message from the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia which has published a new report focusing on land use challenges including climate change, biodiversity loss, and complex trade-offs.
The association has made several recommendations to support more sustainable land management.
"Land management is enormously complex," said Jack Wong, REFBC CEO. "Ecosystem health, environmental law and policy, First Nations right and title, resource management, housing and transportation – these are intersectional issues and topics that can't be considered in isolation. Collaboration and coordination between communities, governments, First Nations, NGOs, and conservation officers is essential."
The report is the result of interviews with land managers, conservation leaders, and sustainability experts and it found often uncoordinated decision making. The cascading effect of these decisions can be hard for communities to assess.
As part of the research REFBC asked consumers for their views and found that, when forced to choose, three times as many prioritized “environmental protection” (69%) over “economic growth” (24%).
Concern about climate change is highest in the Lower Mainland (62%) and on Vancouver Island (59%).
More details are available at refbc.com.
