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BC Mandates to Fulfill UN Targets
This page includes a summary of the Biodiversity and Sustainability Targets set in December 2022 at Cop19 The UN Conference on Biodiversity, followed by the mandates set out by the Premier of British Columbia to guide the various ministries towards addressing biodiversity and sustainability.
Protected Places
TARGETS 11, 2, 3 12 PROTECTION OF 30% OF NATURE
Restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services.
Ensure that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial and inland water, and of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed and at least 30 per cent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective restoration.
Significantly increase the area and quality and connectivity of, access to, and benefits in urban and densely populated areas sustainably.
Ministry of Water, Land And Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
Partnering with the federal government, industry, and communities, and working with Indigenous Peoples, lead the work to achieve the Nature Agreement’s goals of 30% protection of BC’s land base by 2030, including Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy: George Heyman
Expanding our network of parks and protected areas by over six thousand hectares, making improvements to recreation sites and parks infrastructure, and working together with First Nations to ensure Indigenous culture and history is respected and reflected in our parks and protected areas.
OLD GROWTH FORESTS
Ministry of Forests: Bruce Ralston
Working in partnership with First Nations to defer logging activity in areas of B.C.’s most at-risk old growth forests to help protect and support these ecosystems, while First Nations, the Province, and other partners develop a new approach to old growth forest management.
Ministry of Forests: Bruce Ralston
With support from the Minister of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship, accelerate implementation of the recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review and actions to protect important old growth forests, and complete the old growth strategic action plan in 2023.
Ministry of Water, Land And Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
Working with the Ministry of Forests to begin implementation of the recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review.
TARGET 5, 9 MANAGEMENT OF WILD SPECIES
Ensure that the management, use, harvesting and trade of wild species is sustainable, safe and legal … and protecting and encouraging customary sustainable use by indigenous peoples and local communities.
WILDLIFE
Ministry of Water, Land And Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
Amending the Wildlife Act to support the integration of Indigenous Knowledge in the stewardship of our ecosystems.
Ministry of Water, Land And Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
Protect wildlife and species at risk, and work collaboratively with First Nations, other ministries, and the federal government to protect and enhance B.C.’s biodiversity through implementing recommendations of the Old Growth Strategic Review, and the Together for Wildlife Strategy.
FISH
Ministry of Water, Land And Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
Protecting wild salmon, and supporting fish and seafood innovation projects, including doubling funding for the Pacific Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund.
TARGET 6 INVASIVE SPECIES
Eliminate, minimize, reduce and/or mitigate the impacts of invasive alien species on biodiversity and ecosystem services … reducing the rates of introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species by at least 50 per cent by 2030, and eradicating or controlling invasive alien species especially in priority sites…
TARGET 13, 14, 15, 17, 18 22, 23 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGAL PROTECTION
Take effective legal, policy, administrative and capacity-building measures at all levels, as appropriate:
- to ensure the full integration of biodiversity and its multiple values into policies, regulations, planning and development processes
- to encourage and enable business, and in particular to ensure that large and transnational companies and financial institutions regularly monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity and report on compliance.
- to establish, strengthen capacity for, and implement in all countries, biosafety measures.
- to ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits that arise from the utilization of genetic resources.
- to ensure the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation in decision-making, and access to justice and information related to biodiversity by indigenous peoples and local communities … as well as by women, … children … and persons with disabilities.
- identify by 2025, and eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies, harmful for biodiversity.
MODERNIZE FOREST POLICY
Ministry of Forests: Bruce Ralston
Through amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Forest Act, which are reshaping our forest management framework, supporting reconciliation with First Nations, and building a more diverse and inclusive forest sector.
TARGET 19, 20 PROVIDE FINANCIAL RESOURCES TO IMPLEMENT BIODIVERSITY STRATEGIES
Substantially and progressively increase the level of financial resources available … to implement … biodiversity strategies and action plans, by 2030 by … significantly increasing domestic resource mobilization, Leveraging private finance … and encouraging the private sector to invest in biodiversity, stimulating innovative schemes, enhancing the role of collective actions and enhancing the effectiveness, efficiency and transparency of resource provision and use;
Strengthen capacity-building, development, access to and transfer of technology, and promote development of and access to innovation.
CONSERVATION FINANCING
Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
With support from the Ministers of Forests and Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Environment, develop a new conservation financing mechanism to support protection of biodiverse areas.
Sustainability
TARGET 10, 15(b) 16 SUTAINABILITY
Ensure that areas under agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries and forestry are managed sustainably.
Ensure that people are encouraged and enabled to make sustainable consumption choices, provide information needed to consumers to promote sustainable consumption patterns.
Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship (Fisheries): Nathan Cullen
Continue to transform the management and stewardship of our waters, lands and resources, together with First Nations, and work toward modern land use plans and permitting processes rooted in science and Indigenous knowledge that consider new and cumulative impacts to the land base.
TARGET 1, 4, 21 EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF NATURE
Ensure:
- that all areas are under participatory, integrated and biodiversity inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes.
- urgent management actions to halt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species effectively conserved and managed, … restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species … and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.
- that the best available data, information and knowledge, are accessible to decision makers, practitioners and the public to guide effective and equitable governance, integrated and participatory management of biodiversity … and, also in this context, traditional knowledge, innovations, practices and technologies of indigenous peoples and local communities (are accessible).
IMPROVE PERMITTING PROCESS
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation: Josie Osborne
Improve timing and transparency of permitting processes to support sustainable economic development while maintaining high levels of environmental protection, aligned with cross-government work on permitting led by the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.
Ministry of Forests: Bruce Ralston
Improve timing and transparency of permitting processes to support sustainable economic development while maintaining high levels of environmental protection, aligned with cross-government work on permitting led by the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship.
TARGET 7, 8 POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Reduce pollution risks and the negative impact of pollution from all sources by 2030, to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, considering cumulative effects….
Minimize the impact of climate change and ocean acidification on biodiversity and increase its resilience through mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk reduction actions….
REFERENCES
List of Mandates for BC Ministries : View mandate letter for each respective minister.
