Perceptions of landscape change in British Columbia's Northwest: implications for biodiversity and participatory management

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511676482.009

9 - Perceptions of landscape change in British Columbia's Northwest: implications for biodiversity and participatory management

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 December 2010

John Lewis

Edited by

Anna Lawrence

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Anna Lawrence: Affiliation:
University of Oxford

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Summary

Introduction

Throughout British Columbia (BC), as elsewhere in North America, debates surrounding biodiversity and landscape conservation have deepened as a result of the efforts of government and non-governmental organizations to establish large protected areas and limit the activities of resource development interests (such as timber companies and mining corporations) in ecologically sensitive landscapes. Such plans ultimately attempt to restore natural ecosystems by limiting human activity within selected areas and by restoring ecological processes such as fire, flooding, and erosion. Support for these plans is often the most strident in urbanized areas where people are least affected by concerns for the loss of socio-economic well-being and cultural identity. In BC's remote forested landscapes, which have contributed significantly to the identity of First Nations1 and non-aboriginal residents alike, residents express opposition towards any conservation strategy that purports to remove humans as an agent of change in the natural landscape. Even conservationists are beginning to question whether ‘naturalistic’ approaches to landscape management conflict with the conservation of biodiversity and traditional landscapes (Hull and Robertson, 2000).

Owing in part to the reaction of local residents to nature conservation and landscape restoration strategies, the government of BC has begun to pay increasing attention to stakeholders' concerns by introducing and experimenting with innovative methods of public participation. However, they still face the challenge of working with competing values in decision-making processes.

Type: Chapter
Information: Taking Stock of Nature
Participatory Biodiversity Assessment for Policy, Planning and Practice
, pp. 185 - 210

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511676482.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2010

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