Institution reform and integrated resource management in BC
Date
1996
Authors
Maki, Timothy John
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Abstract
The government of British Columbia has long been an advocate of integrated resource management (IRM), a process in which the goals and activities of one environmental or resource sector are coordinated with the goals and activities of other sectors. Successive governments in BC have pursued policies of institutional reform at the central and regional levels to achieve an appropriate balance between forest land uses in IRM. However, in spite of intentions, policy outcomes with respect to land use have historically tended, not towards the development of a harmonious mix of activities and goals but rather to the cacophony of the chainsaw, the blockade and bitter debate.
This thesis examines the ebb and flow between interagency and single agency approaches to IRM in BC over the period 1969 to 1995 and the impact this has had on IRM. Although various governments may have promoted one approach over another, the two have coexisted intermittently over the period studied. The conclusion is that the interagency approach has been an effective tool in delivering incremental changes to the character of IRM. Yet, such reforms have not seriously contested the notion of IRM as " timber management with constraints." This is attributed to the resiliency and tenacity of the Ministry of Forests (MOF) and its preferred approach to IRM, as well as to broader institutionalized limits to reform. The thesis finds that, in spite of rather significant concessions to non forestry interests, the MOF maintains a hold on the forest land base that undermines the latest efforts at interagency planning for IRM.