conserve parts of it. In one Alberta example, oil and gas companies were found to cut more trees than the forest company with tenure for the same area. In recent years, better approaches to coordination and planning for these multiple industrial uses have emerged. However, for the most part, these approaches have not been effectively integrated into all stages of decision making, from planning to project review to approvals. This makes it extremely difficult to predict, manage and avoid the loss of biodiversity on these landscapes.69 Another difficulty is that leading companies in conservation still have only a limited ability to differentiate themselves in the market. Despite the emergence of third-party certification and related initiatives, the competitive edge gained from taking leadership in establishing protected areas and adopting best practices on the I N T E G R AT E D R E S O U R C E M A N A G E M E N T P L A N N I N G landscape is not yet significant. In response to concerns over growing conflicts on the landscape, Moreover, the companies that industries in Alberta, led by the Chamber of Resources, have been risk the most in demonstrating exploring ways to better coordinate their activities and reduce leadership may sometimes be their impact on the landscape. Already, two companies working on subject to greater criticism than the same land base have found ways to save $1 million on road those that choose to wait at the infrastructure alone. A key tool in achieving these results has been back of the pack. Unlike its the ALCES (A Landscape Cumulative Effects Simulator) model, financial status, a company’s social which helps industry and land managers identify, predict and and environmental performance is 1 address cumulative environmental effects. neither reported nor generally reflected in the market. 1 www.acr-alberta.com/Projects/integrated_landscape_management.htm Companies that make an extra effort to internalize environmental costs may therefore fail to capture public recognition and financial rewards for doing so. frames and are generally made on a piecemeal, sectorThis raises serious questions about the market links by-sector basis in isolation from conservation or landbetween environmental and economic performance. It use planning. The lack of integrated planning is one also demonstrates a need to ensure that our economic of the most important structural barriers to conserand policy signals better integrate and reflect the value vation on allocated lands in Canada. of natural capital. In some places, a lack of integrated planning has led An additional challenge is to get past the positionto ongoing conflicts both within and between industrial ing, rhetoric and levels of distrust that have charactersectors active on the same land base. Overlapping ized exchanges between industry and conservation allocations (e.g. between two forest companies with groups in the past and made it difficult for them to tenure over different tree species, or between a forest reach consensus on innovative new approaches. Overcompany and an oil and gas company on the same coming this barrier will take leadership, trust and time. land) can intensify pressure on the landscape and make it difficult for one company or sector to For example, even though the Mining Association of Manitoba and World Wildlife Fund Canada jointly identified more than nine million acres of priority protected areas, none of these lands have been given formal legal protection by the Manitoba government. However, some interim protection has been established: no mineral exploration or development will take place in these areas, but they remain open to other industrial development such as potential hydroelectric development and logging pending full legal protection. The Manitoba experience, as well as other related experiences, points to a number of structural barriers to conservation within policy and legislative frameworks across the country. One such barrier is the scope and nature of current tenure regimes. Industrial allocations are currently given for relatively long time
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SECURING
CANADA’S
NATURAL
CAPITAL
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Chapter
7