Great Bear Rain Forest

The Great Bear Rain Forest consists of 64, 000 square kilometres of pure nature, in the coast of British Columbia. It is one of the rarest forest ecosystems on the plants, where trees grow to be over 1000 years old and partakes in being a home to a healthy population of grizzly bears and black bears rare white “Spirit” bears and wild salmon. In the Great Bear Rainforest the towering trees, fjords, islands, mountain slopes and estuaries support a rich diversity of plants and wildlife. Bears, wolves, mountain goats, Sitka deer, salmon and six million migratory birds are found here. Stretching up the coast of British Columbia to Alaska, Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest is a stunning wilderness; it’s the kind of place that takes your breath away. (http://forestethics.org/great-bear-rainforest)

Environmentalists first created the Greenpeace way named the 5 major organizations doing 80% of the damage to the Rainforest. The first campaign began in 1997 and followed for 10 years. Thousands of protestors and companies from all over of the world added pressure with emails, some stood on blockades and some voted against destruction with their wallets. All putting their lives at stake for being beaten, sued or arrested. Over time, the campaign to save the Great Bear Forest, which saw environmental organisations from around the world working together, turned into a mass movement that kept gaining momentum and media attention. Green peace protesting members blocked logging operations; they closed roads, and prevented workers from entering the forest and leaving with logs. In 1995 environmental organizations began drawing the attention of forest products customers in the UK, Germany and the United States to logging in the Great Bear Rainforest. Two years later Greenpeace started up an international market campaign putting intense pressure on customers to stop or decrease their buying from companies logging from growth temperate rainforests.

In Germany, where the Greenpeace campaign began, papermakers and magazine publishers were faced with how to respond to Greenpeace statements, they were contributing to the mass destruction of ancient temperate rainforests. After years of discussion, protests, belligerent people and so much effort, the final agreement was concluded between environmental groups, First Nations, the British Columbian Government and logging companies. The forest’s protection is one of the greatest environmental victories in Canadian history. The decisions announced by the British Columbia government March 31st 2009 and supported by many companies, environmental groups, First Nations and coastal stakeholders announced a new beginning. (http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/our-work/gbr/great-bear-campaign-history) Through legal and policy mechanisms the system of the Great Bear Rainforest is being recreated. A reasonable amount of risk to ecosystems has been secured and a plan to lower any chances, have been put into place.

On February 7, 2006, The B.C government and First Nations announced worldwide the final land use agreement; it fulfilled to protect 1/3 of the Great Bear Rainforest from logging and Ecosystem Based Management in the rest of the forest by March 31 2009. It is now the most protected forest region of British Columbia. The 5 year plan calls for a continued collaborative focus by environmental groups, the government of British Columbia, the forest industry, and First Nations. The following year, in 2007, protection supporters announced that they had raised $60 million for conservation management by First Nations for the Great Bear Rainforest. The provincial and federal governments later matched these funds with $30 million contributions for economic change in those communities.( http://www.raincoast.org/) The $120 million saving package was the last piece of the puzzle to save the Great Bear Rainforest. The teamwork and partnership of the huge population that helped save The Great Bear Rain Forest was a key aspect to achieving the main goals of low ecological risk and high quality of life in communities in the Great Bear Rainforest. (http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/our-work/gbr/great-bear-campaign-history)