Governing Old-Growth Forests: The Interdependence of Actors in Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia

Abstract

The article explores the interdependence of state, civil society, and market actors in resolving environmental conflicts through new governance arrangements. Based on policy documents and in-depth interviews, the study shows that the government-led Land and Resource Management Plans concerning the coastal rainforests in British Columbia depended for their success on governance efforts that environmental organizations and forestry corporations initiated and carried through independently outside the formal planning processes. These nonstate actors, on the other hand, chose to engage with the provincial government, the First Nations, and the planning processes representing a large number of stakeholders, in order to gain the necessary legitimacy, certainty, and resources for the solutions created during their bilateral negotiations. The results show that when able to consciously coordinate separate processes and roles in the governance of forests, actors can create space for new solutions in seemingly intractable situations.

Keywords:

• forest conflicts
• forest planning
• governance
• Great Bear Rainforest

Acknowledgments

This article has been written as part of the project “Conflict over consensus—The potential and limits of collaborative environmental management” (Academy of Finland project no. 122381). Support was also received from the University of Eastern Finland. The authors thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the article.

Notes

Western Forest Products, Canadian Forest Products, Fletcher Challenge Canada, Weyerhaeuser, BC Coastal.

Sierra Club of BC, Greenpeace, Forest Ethics and Rainforest Action Network.