By Ken Wu
Executive Director, Endangered Ecosystems Alliance
This past year has seen some of the greatest leaps forward in protected areas policies in Canadian history, and also across the world as countries move to protect 30% by 2030 of their lands and waters (currently about 16% of Earth’s land area is protected).
In Canada, a massive expansion in protected areas has taken place recently in several jurisdictions including in Quebec, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut, Nova Scotia, and soon, in British Columbia and Manitoba.
In the US, the Biden administration has just committed to ending old-growth logging across all National Forests by 2025 and is moving to achieve the 30% by 2030 target.
We’re in a period where a historically unprecedented leap forward across Earth is taking place to protect native ecosystems – ecosystems which gave us life and that continue to enable us all to flourish. It is not happening nearly fast enough, given the gravity of the situation, but the momentum is there and we need to build more, fast.
But you wouldn’t know this progress is happening talking to many environmental activists.
Because what pervades many or most environmentalists is an overall mindset of cynicism and negativity. And I believe this cynicism is to the benefit of the status quo and the industrial establishment that is destroying the fabric of life across Earth. More on that in a moment.
There are some understandable reasons for this cynicism – and others not so understandable.
Partly it’s the result of a history of being repeatedly disappointed by government failures and shortcomings. I get this disappointment, having worked to protect old-growth forests and ecosystems in BC and Canada for over three decades thusfar - there are ever-present disappointments and challenges, often Mount Everest-sized. This can wear activists down. To be empowered and to gain influence, we need to focus on building strength by broadening our movement instead of only talking to those who are just like us - we need to bring on board “non-traditional allies” among businesses, unions, faith groups, and outdoor recreation groups, and undertake multicultural outreach, and most importantly support First Nations protected areas initiatives. Greater strength means more results, which counteracts disappointment and cynicism. That is, a viable and effective strategy for change is a key part of the remedy for this cynicism - along with shifting one's mindset.
The cynicism may also come from an overall psychological state of negativity, particularly in these challenging times – again, I get it, these past few years have been hard for almost everyone. And too many people are hooked on their phones and not spending enough time outdoors in nature and with real people - which are foundational for our health.
In some niche activist circles, the cynicism comes from a need to uphold a visible social identity as an oppositional figure who finds fault with most things, especially anything from governments - even major policy progress and the achievement of key goals. This is just lame. Our egos and insecurities need to be placed behind the efficacy of moving causes forward, for the sake of the bigger world.
And the cynicism may all be exacerbated by a lack of insights and understanding of the facts and issues – the science, policies, and politics of ecosystems and the environment. This is increasingly true in the low-info and false-info “alternative facts” universe of social media silos, enhanced partly by the culture wars of Trump, but which alas now pervades much of society, including some parts of the environmental movement and progressive movements too - while most prominent in the far-right, it is not limited to the far-right.
There are a lot of reasons why I believe general cynicism and negativity is actually to the benefit of the destructive status quo and industrial resource extraction interests. Here are three:
1. Cynicism decelerates the momentum of movements. It minimizes public involvement and weakens campaigns. If all you can do is lose, what’s the point in trying? “Come join us, things always suck and can only get worse,” is hardly a rallying cry.
2. Cynicism means you can’t say “thank you” when you should – which tends to disincentivize governments from doing the right things. “If all they can do is condemn us – even when we start giving them what they asked for - we might as well give them nothing”. Saying “thank you” and having gratitude when there is genuine progress is not only the right thing to do in general, but it helps to foster more progress. Failing to give thanks holds back progress, to the benefit of the destructive status quo.
3. Cynicism and overall negativity blinds us from clearly seeing the real problems and their solutions. Cynics are so busy trying to find why things are all wrong and that progress isn’t progress, that they can’t see the things that are still actually wrong and need to get fixed. There are enough problems as it is, we don’t need to make up new ones or exaggerate problems to feed our negative mindsets. Without clearly seeing the main problems, it’s not possible to come up with their remedies, and activists will often end up barking up the wrong tree to the wrong people for the wrong solutions that won’t work. Not only that, cynicism tends to obstruct creativity and the ability to innovate and problem-solve, which are vital for these complex issues. And I’ve noticed that those with strongly negative mindsets in general tend to read less and learn less on the issues they’re dealing with, without the curiosity, drive, and openness to learn and understand enough to be able to change the outcomes. Reading less also tends to result in greater confirmation bias.
These impacts of cynicism tend to become self-reenforcing: having a smaller, weaker movement, with less government action, while blinded from accurately understanding the problems and solutions, tends to then foster more cynicism – a vicious cycle many activists fall into.
There are a lot of examples of where we’ve seen this happen. But instead let’s focus on some real leaps forward in conservation in Canada that we should be HAPPY and THANKFUL for – and to use the empowerment to keep working towards more progress, because taking action can actually land results!
Some recent conservation progress in Canada:
Across Canada, hundreds of First Nations communities are developing their own protected areas plans, generically known as “Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas” (IPCA’s), which are increasingly receiving federal, provincial and territorial government support. Many non-profit organizations, like ours, are also supporting many of these IPCA’s. The expansion of Indigenous protected areas initiatives is now the primary means through which native ecosystems are being protected across much of Canada.
In British Columbia, the new Premier David Eby with the support of the federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, dedicated over $1 billion in federal and provincial funds in November to incrementally increase protection to 30% of BC’s land area by 2030 (currently 15% of BC is in legislated protected areas), including for BC’s iconic old-growth forests. The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) and our allies at the Ancient Forest Alliance (AFA) played the pivotal roles in helping land these conservation financing dollars. We are now on the precipice of the largest protected areas expansion in British Columbian history, with dozens of First Nations’ Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) proposals now receiving critical funding to move their plans forwards. It took 100 years to protect the first 15% of BC...the province is now moving to do the same over the next 6 years - a tall but necessary order. Eby and Guilbeault must be thanked for this.
The federal government has been powering along protected areas expansion across Canada, with billions of dollars allocated for the provinces, territories and First Nations to expand their protected areas systems. This includes $800 million in conservation financing largely for First Nations to expand Marine Protected Areas off the Central and North Coast of BC (the “Great Bear Sea”), for the James Bay Lowlands in Ontario, for the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Major protected areas expansion has been underway in the Yukon, NWT, and Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick is also starting to take action.
The feds also plan to legislate Canada’s 30% by 2030 protected areas target, so that future governments are legally bound to the target. It will also pressure the laggard provinces to come on board (currently, BC, Quebec, and recently, Manitoba, are the only provinces to embrace the national target).
Several major National Parks, National Park Reserves, and National Urban Parks are moving forward, including the South Okanagan National Park Reserve in BC, the Pituamkek (Hog Island Sandhills) National Park Reserve off PEI, the Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie National Urban Park in Windsor, Ontario, and many more.
In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford, under massive pressure, recently backed down from opening up the Greenbelt to developers, and the Alberta government also backed down in recent years from opening up vast swathes of the Rockies to open-pit coal mining and from eliminating over 160 provincial parks, recreation areas and natural areas.
...and so much more.
True, progress isn’t happening fast enough, given the speed of biodiversity loss and climate change. Still needed are legally-binding “ecosystem-based targets” (protected areas targets based on science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge for every ecosystem) in all jurisdictions, a lot more provincial buy-in (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario in particular are the glaring gaps), government support for First Nations IPCAs in many provinces, more funding for private land acquisition, and ensuring that protected areas integrity (strong protection standards and permanent, non-moveable boundaries) are ensured.
We have a long way to go yet. It will be challenging, with a lot of heavy lifting to do.
But we will get there sooner by recognizing and celebrating progress when it happens, and saying “thank you” to those who deserve it – including those in government. And yes, continuing to battle it out wherever needed.
As 2023 comes to a close, lets focus on the progress, be grateful, and get ready to keep pushing in 2024 for a better world!