UPDATE Jan 7, 2021: Same question posed to leaders of NS Green, NDP, Conservative parties.
From NS Protected areas Interactive map We currently stand at just under 13% Protected Areas. I have estimated that if the additional 17% were to come entirely from Crown lands, 74% of Crown lands that are not now protected would have to be protected and most of it would have to come from forested lands which make up 75% of our landscape. That would significantly reduce the Crown lands available for forestry, by my calculation to at best 310,998 ha of working forest down from approximately 687,000 ha.
Note: The Final Candidate Forum is this evening at 7:00 p.m. It can be viewed livestream at liberal.ns.ca. I have submitted this question to the forum.
The Question
A question to the Nova Scotia Liberal Leadership Candidates: How do you plan to align Nova Scotia with the federal Liberal Government’s commitment to 30% Protected Area by 2030? 2Jan 2021
To Randy Delorey, Labi Kousoulis and Iain Rankin, Nova Scotia MLAs and Candidates for leadership of NS Liberal party/Premier of Nova Scotia, to be elected on February 6, 2021 :
I ask you to give some serious thought to this question. I invite you to respond and if you do, I will post your response on NS Forest Notes. No limits on length. I know this is a difficult one to address. Please let me know soon if I can expect a response, and more or less when (I will add a note announcing the expected response at the top of this post.)
Thx,
David P
Nova Scotia Forest Notes
e-mail sent Jan 2, 2021
e-mail sent Jan 6, 2021
Responses to Date:
Jan 4, 2020, Received from Labi Kousoulis:
“Thank you for posing this question as it’s a very important question that does need to be addressed. A Kousoulis government will work with federal counterparts to ensure both governments are aligned on this subject. As leader, I will expect my minister responsible, to have an open dialog with the federal counterpart responsible. The environment does not adhere to political boundaries, meaning we all must work together to preserve what we have.
As I have mentioned in my recently released environment strategy, areas of ecological value and homes to endangered species will be protected by my government. As Premier, I will ensure that our endangered species such as the Mainland Moose are protected from threats, and that we look at environmental issues with the lens of biodiversity…. View Full Response
Jan 5, 2020, Received from Iain Rankin:
Increasing national and international protected area targets reflect growing scientific consensus and public recognition that expanding protected area networks is critical for biodiversity conservation.
Nova Scotia is not immune to the global biodiversity crisis. That means embracing meaningful expansion of our provincial protected areas network. The public benefits of protecting land and water are numerous: biodiversity conservation and restoration, indigenous reconciliation, tourism, recreation, preserving Nova Scotia’s unique quality of life, and economic diversification. While we are among the top provinces for land protection percentage, I believe our current mandate of 13% land protection is not sufficient. Therefore I would be mandating the following actions for the Minister of Environment and Minister of Lands and Forestry to action in my government.
1. I have already committed in this campaign to fully implementing the remaining list of lands from the 2013 Parks and Protected Areas Plan. That puts us just over 14% in this calendar year… View Full Response
Feb 17, 2021, Received from Gary Burill
Thank you for contacting me about the issue of protected land targets. Our NDP Caucus supports the targets set by the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People– 25% protection of lands and waters by 2025, and 30% protection by 2030…
View Full Response