Climate Action Institute

Thriving natural ecosystems are critical to growing North America’s resource-based economy. “Build, baby, build” and “Drill, baby, drill” policies are driven by immediate concerns such as trade, economic sovereignty and security, and affordability. But plans for growth should consider building up our foundational asset–nature.

As part of the Salazar Center for North American Conservation’s symposium in Vancouver last week, the RBC Climate Action Institute co-hosted a roundtable with Nature United. The topic: How nature conservation and stewardship can be positioned as a strategic asset in pro-growth plans for nature-dependent sectors, including forestry, agriculture, and mining.

Here’s what we heard:

• Focus on the economic benefits. There continues to be a movement away from models protecting landscapes with no public activity or access to those efforts that benefit local economies–creating jobs, spaces for recreation, and new streams of revenue (environmental credits) and businesses (ecotourism, responsible logging, forest management). This shift reflects that durability in conservation requires people. A good example of this is the Heiltsuk Tribal Council’s 2021 purchase of the Shearwater Marine Ltd., a 63-acre resort and marina in Bella Bella, B.C. The Heiltsuk regained an important part of their territory and unlocked new economic opportunities, including eco-cultural tourism.

• Communicate with people where they’re at. The energy transition risks leaving behind rural communities dependent on fossil-fuel extraction for employment and economic activity. Revitalizing these communities via nature-based economies can be part of the solution, but generating buy-in depends on how the opportunities are communicated, requiring a focus on place-based values and priorities. In West Virginia, a hotspot for coal mining and a focus of the Trump administration’s efforts in building back the coal industry, there has been a new wave of growth via a nature-based economy focused on job creation and regenerate abandoned towns. Opportunities span responsible forestry and forest restoration, conservation rehabilitation within renewable energy projects on retired coal mine sites, and growing tourism along the Appalachian Mountain range.

• A debate over assigning nature a monetary value. While opponents argue against commodifying nature, proponents say that valuing nature enables a broader scope of stakeholders to invest. This debate has shaped nature’s role in environmental offset markets and other mechanisms that drive investment in nature, from budgetary accounting to green bonds. For example, the town of Gibsons, B.C. developed an eco-asset strategy, integrating the value of nature in its planning processes. As a result, the town determined that green infrastructure was cost effective in managing stormwater, resulting in the reduction of associated development costs for residential and commercial projects.  

3 things to watch:

• Proposed U.S. tax cut package could authorize the sale of nearly 300-million acres of public lands. There is growing concern that these lands will be sold for mining, logging and drilling with limited restraint on the scale. This is an issue for Canada, as well, since neighbouring public lands provide intact natural landscapes for wildlife crossing borders on migration routes. It also plays a critical role in the U.S.’s ability to meet global biodiversity and climate commitments. Public Lands in Public Hands Act is a piece of legislation that aims to prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from selling land of more than 300 acres to a non-federal entity. The bill was initially sponsored by Ryan K. Zinke, Republican congressperson from Montana. While seeking further support, the bill is with the Congress’ Subcommittee on Forestry and Horticulture.

• The role of the UN Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction on Arctic development. While the agreement has 114 country signatories, only 21 have ratified it so far. That’s well short of the 60 required for it to take effect and ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in international waters. The Arctic is home to some of the world’s largest intact marine ecosystems–the protection of which is a timely consideration with Russia, China, the U.S. and Canada eyeing Arctic-based tourism, commercial fishing, trans-Arctic shipping, and deep-sea mining.

• Can the Carney government build up Canada’s natural resources in a pro-growth environment? The Liberal government platform outlines a plan for expediting and scaling energy and critical mineral projects, parallel to commitments to expand Canada’s nature conservation efforts. The challenge for a Liberal minority government will be integrating Indigenous reconciliation, nature-positive efforts, and resource extraction pathways while addressing tensions such as the pace of projects and the value of nature in extraction-based sectors.