British Columbia Dedicates Great Bear Rainforest To The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy

The Province of British Columbia will dedicate the Great Bear Rainforest to The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC), a pan-Commonwealth forest conservation initiative in Her Majesty The Queen’s name.

The announcement was made today by the Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark.

The Great Bear Rainforest is an iconic and globally significant area covering 6.4 million hectares along the central and north coast of British Columbia. It is home to a quarter of the earth’s temperate rainforest and 26 separate First Nations. It is also the only place in the world where the Kermode, or Spirit, Bear is found.

Increasingly threatened by industrial logging, the Government of British Columbia passed historic legislation earlier this year to protect the Rainforest’s ecology and indigenous people.

Making the announcement, Christy Clark said: “The Great Bear Rainforest is a global treasure, and all British Columbians have a stake in protecting it. The international recognition conferred by The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy is something all British Columbians can be proud of.”

Michael Lake CBE, Director of The Royal Commonwealth Society said: “The inclusion of the Great Bear Rainforest in The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy highlights Canada’s ongoing commitment to the Commonwealth and its leading role in conserving key ecological and indigenous peoples’ cultural values. The ecosystem-based management regime for British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, developed in collaboration with First Nations, industry and environmental organisations, provides an example that other Commonwealth countries can look to when pursuing their own forest conservation agendas. The Society is proud of this important Commonwealth initiative, conceived in The Queen’s name and honoring Her commitment as Head of the Commonwealth.”

Canada’s commitment to the QCC joins those previously received by Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Belize, Jamaica, Malta, Mauritius, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Zambia.

The announcement comes before Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge travel to Canada for a Royal Tour later this month to visit British Columbia and the territory of Yukon. This will be the second tour to Canada by The Duke and Duchess who made their first visit in 2011.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) was launched in 2015 with the goal of uniting the Commonwealth’s 53 members in conserving forests for future generations. The initiative, in The Queen’s name, will raise the awareness of the Commonwealth’s 2.3 billion citizens of the value of saving forests and facilitate knowledge exchange between Commonwealth members, sharing best practices and creating new, collaborative initiatives for forest conservation.

The Great Bear Rainforest is one of the planet’s largest intact temperate rainforests, covering 6.4 million hectares along the central and north coast of British Columbia. The World Wildlife Fund has ranked the Great Bear Rainforest as a globally outstanding ecosystem due to its biological diversity and rank.

The QCC Partners:
The Royal Commonwealth Society is a network of individuals and organisations committed to improving the lives and prospects of Commonwealth citizens across the world. www.thercs.org

Cool Earth is an award-winning, UK-based charity that works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction. www.coolearth.org

The Commonwealth Forestry Association links foresters, scientists, students and policy-makers throughout the Commonwealth to seek ways of wise forest management. www.cfa-international.org