British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest has long been a site of global controversy, environmental protest and widespread media interest.

In 1995, environmental groups including Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter, National Resource Defence Council, Coastal Rainforest Coalition (now ForestEthics), Raincoast Conservation Society and Valhalla Wilderness Society came together to target logging that was destroying the Great Bear Rainforest.

Market pressure from some of these groups eventually drove the logging companies to sit down and negotiate a truce. A series of historic agreements among the companies, environmentalists and local and provincial governments followed in 2001. The main goals were to protect the most important areas of the Great Bear Rainforest (the Central and North Coast) and Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), change logging practices and support a sustainable future for local communities.

To make these goals a reality, Greenpeace, ForestEthics (formerly the Coastal Rainforest Coalition), Rainforest Action Network and the Sierra Club of Canada, BC Chapter formed a joint initiative known as the Rainforest Solutions Project (RSP).

A Lasting Solution

Given the complexity of implementing a lasting solution in a vast, diverse and inhabited coastal region, the group's work is far from finished.

However, a new stage has begun as the Rainforest Solutions Project works to ensure environmental protection is legislated, improved forest practices are implemented and a thriving conservation-based economy evolves in the Great Bear Rainforest – providing a globally unique model of sustainability.

photos: Adrian Dorst (banner), Dott/Greenpeace (centre)