In Search of Sustainability: British Columbia Forest Policy in the 1990s

The forests of British Columbia have become a battleground over sustainable resource development, setting environmentalists against the forest industry and forestry workers and communities. In an effort to broker peace, British Columbia’s NDP government launched a number of promising new forest policy initiatives in the 1990s. These policies are analyzed by a group of political scientists who focus on how and why change has occurred. They examine land use, forest practices, tenure, Aboriginal issues, timber supply, pricing, and jobs to find that while environmental values have acquired a more central place in BC forest policy, they have not displaced timber production as the dominant force in policy making. The authors conclude that despite the astonishing level of activism, the government’s search for sustainability - whether measured by environmental, social, economic, or political indicators - has ultimately failed. The authors are Benjamin Cashore, Auburn University; George Hoberg, University of British Columbia; Michael Howlett, Simon Fraser University; Jeremy Rayner, Malaspina University College; and Jeremy Wilson, University of Victoria.