Final Agreement Will Permanently Safeguard 85 Percent of Great Bear Rainforest
Today First Nations governments and the BC government, with the support of ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC and five forestry companies, announced the fulfilment of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements. Eighty-five percent (3.1 million hectares) of the remote wilderness region’s coastal temperate rainforests are now permanently off-limits to industrial logging. The remaining 15 percent (550,000 hectares) of the forest will be subject to the most stringent commercial logging legal standards in North America. First Nations oversight of their lands has been strengthened and new community development opportunities negotiated as a result of the government-to-government implementation process. » Read More
Delays in final implementation of GBR Agreements creating ecological uncertainty
On the fourth anniversary of the landmark Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, environmental organizations are warning that the implementation of remaining key protection measures for the region’s coastal temperate old-growth rainforests are significantly delayed. Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC, and Stand.earth are calling on governments and the major logging companies to address the delays, especially in light of the climate and biodiversity crises. » Read More
Great Bear Rainforest Progress Update: 1rst Anniversary of the Legal and Policy Framework
February 1, 2017 marks one year since the announcement of the Great Bear Rainforest Legal and Policy Framework » Read More
B.C. Groups Win Prestigious Buckminster Fuller Award for Role in Safeguarding Great Bear Rainforest
Fuller Challenge Award 2016 goes to Rainforest Solutions Project, a project of Tides Canada Initiative with Greenpeace, Stand.earth and Sierra Club BC » Read More
UPDATE: Great Bear Rainforest Agreements delayed but moving towards completion
Greenpeace, ForestEthics Solutions and Sierra Club BC remain concerned about extended delays in meeting deadlines to complete the outstanding steps of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements. The groups note however that the Province, First Nations, forestry companies and our environmental organizations involved in the talks to finalize the outstanding steps are no longer deadlocked. A number of elements of the agreement have draft solutions ready to be finalized in early 2015 while several critical elements remain in the negotiation phase. We anticipate that all necessary steps will be completed by April 30, 2015 or earlier. » Read More
Environmental Organizations Welcome Province and First Nations Great Bear Rainforest Commitments
Greenpeace, ForestEthics Solutions and Sierra Club B.C. welcome the commitments received by letter today from the B.C. government and First Nations organizations - Great Bear Initiative and Nanwakolas Council - to deliver the remaining measures required for the final implementation of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements by the end of 2014. » Read More
Forest Companies & Environmental Groups Deliver Joint Recommendations for the Great Bear Rainforest
Joint recommendations to achieve final implementation of ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the Great Bear Rainforest have been reached among five forest product businesses and three leading environmental groups who together form the Joint Solutions Project (JSP). » Read More
British Columbians Want the Great Bear Rainforest Conservation Agreements Finished, New Poll Shows
On the seventh anniversary of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, Greenpeace, ForestEthics Solutions and Sierra Club BC are calling on BC’s political parties to commit to wrapping up the agreements in their election platforms. » Read More
Completion of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements should be a priority in election platforms
Greenpeace, ForestEthics Solutions and Sierra Club BC are calling on BC’s political parties to commit to wrapping up the Great Bear Rainforest agreements in their election platforms. We sent the following letter to the party leaders » Read More
Over 10 000 Pledge to Take It Taller for the Great Bear Rainforest in Victoria, British Columbia
ForestEthics Solutions, Greenpeace and Sierra Club BC present a scroll to the BC government, with over 10 000 names supporting our call to Premier Christy Clark to wrap up the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements by March 2013. » Read More
Vancouver, BC Artist Wins ‘Great Bear’s Got Talent’ Contest
A selection committee, including famed Canadian wildlife artist Robert Bateman and Kitasoo-Xai’Xais First Nation photographer Doug Neasloss, has selected British Columbia artist Laura Wasylyshen and her work “Spirit in the Water” as the winner of the Great Bear’s Got Talent contest. » Read More
Great Bear’s Got Talent finalists
We’ve been searching for the perfect artistic work that captures the magic of the Great Bear Rainforest and after 106 entries and 1,806 votes our community has selected their five favorite entries. From the finalists our panel of judges will select the winner who will receive a donated trip for two to the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest. » Read More
Winner of the New Facebook Talent Contest Will Have Chance to See the Rare Spirit Bear
Each year only a handful of people get to see a spirit bear in person. Now there’s a chance to win a two-person all expense paid round trip to the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest (valued at $6500) – and to go in search of the spirit bear. » Read More
Vision and Leadership at the Heart of the Great Bear Rainforest
One of the most meaningful aspects of my work as senior campaigner on the Great Bear Rainforest is getting to know the communities within the rainforest region, and the individuals who significantly contribute to their collective wellbeing. One such individual is Larry Jorgenson. » Read More
A Double Threat
This is the final article in a three-part series on Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. February marked the six-year anniversary of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, which were celebrated as one of the worlds greatest rainforest conservation stories. To this day, however, half the Great Bear Rainforest is still open to logging. » Read More
A Forest Like No Other
The second article in a three-part series on Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. February marked the six-year anniversary of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, which were celebrated as one of the worlds greatest rainforest conservation stories. To this day, however, half the Great Bear Rainforest is still open to logging. » Read More
The War in the Woods
This is the first article in a three-part series on Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest. February marked the six-year anniversary of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, which were celebrated as one of the worlds greatest rainforest conservation stories. To this day, however, half the Great Bear Rainforest is still open to logging. » Read More
Whither the Yellow Cedar?
New research is showing that Yellow Cedar, one of the characteristic tree species found in the Great Bear Rainforest of B.C., is disappearing in many areas because of the impacts of global warming. It's no longer just too much logging that is threatening B.C.'s coastal old-growth forest. Ironically, they're freezing to death. » Read More
Day of Action for the Great Bear Rainforest
On March 20, people who care about the Great Bear Rainforest will use their Facebook and Twitter accounts to invite others to call on the provincial government to fully implement the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements, by donating their social media posts for our Day of Action. » Read More
Half is not enough for the Great Bear Rainforest
Six years ago an amazing thing happened. Environmental organizations and the forestry industry, former foes in the fight over the future of the Great Bear Rainforest, stood along-side first nations and the provincial government in front of the cameras of the world and made a promise. » Read More
The Great Bear Rainforest needs protection on land and sea
The Great Bear Rainforest encompasses 6.4 million hectares of temperate rainforest, salmon rivers, archipelagos of verdant islands and hundreds of rich estuaries where the ocean and forest meet. It is an ocean-influenced forest, or maybe you could call it a forest-influenced ocean. » Read More
A new climate for the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements
As humans scramble to reduce carbon emissions and create technologies that don’t depend on burning fossil fuels, forests like the Great Bear Rainforest provide a natural tool in the fight against global warming. » Read More
Urging BC Government to “Take It Taller!” in the Great Bear Rainforest
This week saw renewed focus brought to the call for the BC government to finish what they started in carrying out the 2006 Great Bear Rainforest agreement. Logging, as well as potential Tar Sands pipeline development, continues to threaten a landmark agreement that has already been 50% fulfilled. It would be tragic to stop now. » Read More
Six years later, it’s time to end unsustainable logging in the Great Bear Rainforest
The science is clear that as long as only half of the Great Bear Rainforest is protected, the entire forest is still at risk. At a time when the Great Bear Rainforest is under increasing threat from pipelines, tankers and grizzly bear trophy hunting, the provincial government has a clear opportunity to do something right now to make good on its promise to save this global gem from unsustainable logging. » Read More
The Great Bear Rainforest puts B.C. on the map
The Great Bear Rainforest, together with Haida Gwaii, is the largest, mostly intact coastal temperate rainforest left on the planet. It stretches along more than two-thirds of British Columbia's coast and is the traditional territory of First Nations who have lived in this rainforest for thousands of years. A rare ecosystem covering less than one per cent of the planet’s landmass, few of the remaining old-growth temperate rainforests are unlogged. » Read More
If the Great Bear Rainforest is already protected, why this campaign?
Six years ago, our environmental organizations and logging companies worked with the B.C. government and First Nations to create a groundbreaking agreement to save the Great Bear Rainforest. Reached after years of protests and market campaigns aimed at protecting this region from industrial logging, the agreement made headlines around the world for being remarkable in many ways. » Read More
Open Letter to Premier Christy Clark on the February 7, 2006 Great Bear Rainforest Agreements
Today is the sixth anniversary of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements announced by your government, First Nations and stakeholders on February 7, 2006. These Agreements made headlines across BC and around the globe, because they were supported by unexpected allies, including logging companies and the three undersigned environmental groups. » Read More