Canada and Agenda
21Canada and Agenda
21
CHAPTER 10
Integrated Approach to the Planning and Management of Land Resources
-- Nigel Richardson --
Nigel Richardson is a conslutant in land use and environmental policy planning, with a special interest in sustainable development as applied to land resources. The views expressed in this chapter are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the views of the Projet de Société.
THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
Economic activities are placing ever increasing pressures on land and its natural resources, creating competition and conflicts. These result in sub-optimal use of land and resources. If we are going to meet human requirements in a sustainable manner, we must resolve these conflicts, and find more effective and efficient ways of planning the use of land and its natural resources. This will require improved tools, notably ecologically-based mapping and geographic information systems (GIS). Above all, it will entail clarification of sustainability-based goals both for individual resource sectors and for integrated resource use planning.
PROGRAM AREAS AND OBJECTIVES
The broad objective is to facilitate allocation of land to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits and to promote the transition to a sustainable and integrated management of land resources, taking into consideration environmental, social and economic issues.
In more specific terms, the objectives are:
(1)to review and develop policies to support the best possible use of land and the sustainable management of land resources, by not later than 1996;
(2) to improve and strengthen planning, management and evaluation systems for land and land resources, by not later than 2000;
(3) to strengthen institutions and coordinating mechanisms for land and land resources, by not later than 1998; and,
(4) to create mechanisms to facilitate the active involvement and participation of all concerned, particularly communities and people at the local level, in decision-making on land use and management, by not later than 1996.
CANADIAN POSITIONS AT RIO
1. Official Canadian Position
There were five main Canadian objectives at Rio:
(1) to support the ecosystem approach to the management of land resources, covering all aspects -- air, water, land and living species;
(2) to promote wider recognition of the fact that environmental management cuts across all levels of government;
(3) to emphasize that integrated planning at the international and national levels is a necessary but not sufficient condition for linkage of environment and development issues;
(4) to remind other nations that effective management of land resources is impossible without the full, active and informed participation of those whose livelihoods are at stake, and that successful national development programs can build upon sustainable land management practices of indigenous people; and,
(5) to seek acceptance of the concept that integrated planning includes identifying and setting aside areas of land for protection of biological diversity and essential ecological services.
2. Non-Governmental Organizations
The "Group of Eight" national conservation and environmental NGOs, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Friends of the Earth, Wildlife Habitat Canada and others, in annual submissions to the Minister of the Environment and elsewhere have taken clear positions in favour of a more integrated, ecosystem-based approach to the management of land and water resources. However, the large number of NGOs in total, and the range of particular interests represented, do not favour a clearly defined position on integrated planning and management of land resources. Moreover, the fact that many NGOs are committed defenders of particular land use/resource causes (protection of old-growth forests, farmland preservation, etc.) militates against balanced positions on land and resource use practice.
3. Business and Industry
Business and industry endorsed Canada's stance that policies and policy instruments should support optimal land-use and sustainable management of land resources. They stated that all levels of government within Canada must have the same policy, and that agreement on positive, clear definitions was needed. However, they also underlined their view that a Canadian position must reflect provincial jurisdictional primacy over natural resources.
The promotion of government collaboration with national and international organizations was viewed as having significant potential industrial benefits and tremendous market growth potential for the Canadian geomatics industry. Canadian Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Earth observation technologies provide effective tools for managing and analysing data, and modelling impacts of alternative land and natural resource development options.
Business and industry expressed concern that the objective of applying economic instruments to encourage appropriate land-use and protection and management of resources was dangerous, because it could potentially lead to intervention, trade distortion and protectionism.
4. Indigenous
There is no formal collective Canadian aboriginal position on integrated land and resource planning and management. As far as one can generalise, the Kari-Oca Declaration (see below) represents the position of aboriginal Canadians fairly accurately. Since the aboriginal peoples see humanity as a part of a single natural system, which includes the earth and all living things, the principle of integrated land and resource planning and management could be said to be built into their cultures.
Putting the principle into practice through appropriate institutional mechanisms and processes is of crucial importance to the aboriginal peoples, both economically and culturally. They have to find ways of reconciling industrial and related development (forestry, mining, oil and gas extraction, pipelines, etc.), from which they wish to benefit, with their traditional renewable resource-based economy and way of life (hunting, trapping, fishing, gathering). Recent agreements between governments and aboriginal peoples, such as the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, the Inuvialuit (Western Arctic) Final Agreement, and the Eastern Arctic (Inuit) Agreement, have established extensive areas in which title is conveyed to the aboriginal groups[s] and in which land and resource management is shared between government and the aboriginal group(s) through joint boards and committees. The principle of integrated planning and management is not fully realised, however, because these bodies reflect standard Euro-Canadian bureaucratic structures, for example, separating, wildlife management from land use planning and that, in turn, from environmental assessment.
Indigenous Peoples recommend that nation states recongnize, protect and support the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including cultural, territorial and human rights as a central priority. Moreover the ownership of land enables Indigneous Peopesl to have greater say and involvement in the planning an management of land resources as opposed to the situation that exists in the world now.
Indigenous Peoples recommend new policies for environmental and resource management programs. They advise that implementation would be more successful with grassfoots invovlement, making, they believe, a strong argument for involving Indigenous Peoples in environmental projects that affect them. This gives support to assetrting indigneous peoples rights to their lands and thus better protection from outside interests, plus the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the initiatla planning stages might mitigate some of the environmental degradation associated with development.
COMMITMENTS MADE BY CANADIANS
1. Legally-Binding Documents
None.
2. Political Pronouncements
In his address to the Earth Summit on June 12, 1992, Prime Minister Mulroney stated that "Canada supports the extension of international environmental law to cover the world's forests." He also noted that "Countries have a right to manage their forest resources", while "humanity has a right to expect that those management decisions will be ecologically wise." He announced that, in 1992, Canada was contributing $115 million to forest management in developing countries, and noted a $170 million Green Plan program on sustainable agriculture.
The subsequent Canadian Government statement Canada's Green Plan and the Earth Summit developed the forest management theme:
The Government of Canada believes that it is important that the sustainable development and conservation of forests be pursued on a global basis. . . . Canada strongly believes that more needs to be done to put the development of the world's forests on a sustainable footing. In particular, Canada will continue to build on the forest principles agreed upon at Rio to develop scientifically based and internationally agreed upon criteria for forest management . . .
The same document also alluded to the sustainable agriculture initiative, described as addressing, among other matters, soil conservation and wildlife habitat. It noted the Green Plan's Coastal Action Program of integrated coastal management.
There is no political pronouncement regarding integrated land and resource planning and management in general, which lies to a great extent outside the jurisdiction of the federal government.
3. Alternative NGO Treaties and Kari-Oca
NGO Treaties
At the same time as UNCED, two major international events were also held at Rio: the Global Forum and the Kari-Oca Conference. At the International Non-Governmental Organization Forum (Global Forum), 3,100 NGOs discussed a number of matters related to environment and development and produced a parallel set of documents: an NGO Earth Charter and 38 Alternative NGO Treaties. Of these treaties, one addressed the issues discussed in Chapter 10.
NGO Sustainable Agriculture Treaty
The Treaty, developed at the Earth Summit's NGO Forum, sets out a number of policies and activities to promote sustainable agriculture. The emphasis is on broad participation of people's movements, social and farming groups, and NGOs, to create new rural social and economic structures (including land tenure and redistribution), and to collaborate in communication, education and advocacy programs. All have the aim of restoring and conserving agricultural land and promoting and supporting sustainable agricultural practices. The Treaty also advocates broad participation in decision-making by governments and public agencies affecting rural land use and agricultural practices, and promotes legislation to preserve agricultural and natural areas.
Other objectives include the preservation of genetic resources and biodiversity and their retention in the public realm, and legislation to regulate biotechnology research; reduced use and tighter control of pesticides and chemical fertilisers; research and dissemination of information on the agricultural implications of climate change; and international action to support the development of sustainable agriculture, while giving priority to food security, health, and adequate nutrition.
Kari-Oca
The second alternative forum at Rio was the International Conference on Territory, Environment and Development (the Kari-Oca Conference). The Kari-Oca Conference was held immediately prior to UNCED by and for the world's indigenous peoples. More than 650 indigenous representatives participated in meetings and cultural events during the conference. They developed and adopted a 109-point Indigenous Peoples Earth Charter.
The Kari-Oca Declaration and Indigenous Peoples' Earth Charter, developed at the parallel Aboriginal Summit in Rio, includes a section on "Lands and Territories". This is based on the fundamental belief on the part of the indigenous peoples that they were placed on the earth by the Creator as part of Nature and are inseparable from the natural system. Therefore, their relationship to the lands and waters they occupy is integral, inherent, and inalienable. Stewardship of the land is claimed to be integral to indigenous cultures, while the European concept of land ownership is alien to them.
From these premises, it follows that the indigenous peoples have the right to define their own traditional territories, and that this should be supported in law; that these territories should not be intruded upon or diminished without consent; that non-indigenous laws should not be imposed on indigenous lands; and that the use of indigenous lands by others, including "environmental groups", should be only by agreement, and subject to conditions and appropriate compensation.
In addition, "recognizing indigenous peoples' harmonious relationship with nature, indigenous sustainable development models, development strategies, and cultural values must be respected as distinct and vital sources of knowledge."
The Declaration advocates the cultivation of traditional agricultural products, and asserts that the growing of crops by indigenous peoples should be to supply the people themselves. It strongly opposes the use of indigenous lands for military or nuclear-related purposes or for toxic waste disposal, and the commercial destruction of forests. It advocates a very cautious attitude towards industrial and related development, and to agricultural chemicals and pesticides.
Women
The Women's Action Agenda 21 (World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet, Miami, Florida, Nov. 12 1991) draws attention to the increasing concentration of land ownership and control, and the socially, culturally and environmentally destructive consequences of "gross inequities in land tenure and ownership" and of current agricultural policies in both the North and the South. It advocates that women's access to land tenure and ownership be regarded as a basic human right, and calls for the end of discriminatory practices which limit such access. It also advocates increased awareness of the environmental impacts of land use technologies oriented to short-term profitability, at the cost of long-term sustainability and productivity.
DEFICIENCIES, GAPS AND CONSTRAINTS WITHIN CHAPTER 10
The analysis and recommendations in this chapter are generally sound.
There are problems in separating integrated land and resource planning and management from the chapters dealing with individual sectors (forestry, agriculture etc.) and with the broader question of policies for sustainability; on the other hand, the subject is important enough to sustainable development that there is also merit in giving it a chapter to itself, if only to emphasise the need to see integrated land and resource management as a key issue distinct from (though of course closely related to) the sustainable management of individual resources. Chapter 10 should, however, be read in conjunction with the relevant other chapters; perhaps the organisation of Agenda 21 as a whole needs to be reconsidered.
COMPARISON BETWEEN CURRENT CANADIAN GOVERNMENT POLICY AND COMMITMENTS MADE
The Canadian Government appears to have made no commitments regarding integrated land and resource planning and management as such, as distinct from the management of specific resources. Indeed, constitutionally it could hardly do so, been so, in general, land use and natural resource management are under provincial jurisdiction. In this field, therefore, the federal government is not really in a position to speak for Canada.
While for many years the federal government played a leading and extremely important role in the field (examples include the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, the Agricultural and Rural Development Act, the Canada Land Inventory), in recent years it has been generally withdrawing. Examples of this trend are the dissolution of the Lands Directorate of the Department of the Environment, the termination of the very valuable Canada Land Use Monitoring Program, and the termination of the Northern Land Use Planning program.
Nevertheless, the federal government maintains a commitment to the sustainable management of Canada's land resources. This is reflected, for example, in sustainable agriculture and soil conservation programs of the Department of Agriculture. The federal government continues to participate in the Federal-Provincial Committee on Land Use, which among other matters is currently examining the concept of a "national perspective on land". This could reinvigorate the idea of integrated land and resource planning at the national level.
On the other hand, international trade agreements such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), tend to restrict Canada's freedom to manage its resources. Reduced subsidies to agriculture and forestry are an example; these need to be offset by support for conservation, which is not restricted.
CANADIAN ACTIVITIES EVOLVING THROUGH THE SUSTAINABILITY PROCESS
In Canada, the western provinces have taken the lead in the field of integrated land and resource planning and management. The following examples are provided.
The Government of Manitoba has a set of "Provincial Land Use Policies", adopted by Order in Council, which govern land use throughout the province except for the City of Winnipeg. An interdepartmental structure extending up to Cabinet level coordinates the land use policies with such related activities as municipal planning and environmental assessment.
The Government of Alberta has both a set of regional planning commissions covering the settled part of the province, and an Integrated Resource Planning System which is interdepartmental to Cabinet level.
The British Columbia Commission on Resources and Environment is responsible for working with both local bodies and ministries to develop regional land use and resource management plans, and for preparing a provincial land use strategy.
The Fraser River Estuary Management Program is an outstanding example of coordinated land and water management involving three levels of government and many different agencies.
Several provinces and territories have made varying amounts of progress towards provincial "conservation strategies" or "sustainable development strategies" which would, in theory, provide a governing framework for all land use and resource development activities. There is a great variety of other relevant programs and activities across the country, varying from province to province: Ontario's conservation authorities are one example.
In general, in recent years there has been a substantial shift by provincial governments away from single-use resource management primarily oriented to short-term markets, to a more balanced, system-based approach oriented to sustainable use and the maintenance of ecosystem integrity. Examples include forest management in Ontario and water management in Alberta and British Columbia.
At the local level, most municipalities carry out land use planning to some degree. Some provinces, such as Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, have extended the geographical range of municipal planning by the creation of regional or inter-municipal planning agencies. (In Quebec, the provincial government also participates.) In general, however, the effectiveness of municipal planning as an instrument of integrated land and resource planning and management is greatly limited by the lack of both adequate legal powers and suitable territorial scope.
On the other hand, the constraints of municipal planning are increasingly -- though far from universally -- being offset by cooperation between municipalities and among municipalities, provincial (and in some cases federal) government departments, other public agencies, and even private landowners.
Several Canadian universities have relevant programs, such as resource management at Simon Fraser and Manitoba, rural development at Guelph and Mount Allison, and urban and regional planning at more than a dozen institutions.
In Canada, there is a clear trend towards cooperative, coordinated, ecosystem- and sustainability-based resource management. However, the origins of this trend can be traced back at least as far as the 1961 "Resources for Tomorrow" Conference in Montreal, and have little to do with Rio.
OTHER RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED FORA
Because in political, bureaucratic and academic terms the field is fragmented into a diversity of aspects and activities, there is little in the way of continuing international fora on integrated land planning and management as such, but many such fora that are relevant. Some examples are:
United Nations Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB)
International Geographical Union program on rural development and planning
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Forum on Rural Planning and Development
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis program on modelling of land supply/demand relationships.
In addition, there are dozens if not hundreds of "one-off" international meetings, seminars etc. annually that deal with aspects of the field.
The International Federation for Housing and Planning brings together mainly urban planners. The Commonwealth Association of Planners brings together professional land use planning institutes. An International Association for Environmental Management has recently been established, but is still in the formative stages. There are many international organisations dealing with the management of specific resources such as forests, farmlands, water and minerals.
SUGGESTED READINGS AND INFORMATION SOURCES
Adams, Thomas. Rural Planning and Development, (Ottawa: Commission of Conservation, 1917).
Berger, Thomas R. Northern Frontier, Northern Homeland: The Report of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry (2 vols.), (Ottawa: 1977).
Borczon, E.L. Evergreen Challenge: The Agreement Forest Story, (Ontario: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 1982).
Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers. Report of the National Task Force on Environment and Economy, (Ottawa: 1988).
Canadian Environmental Advisory Council. A Protected Areas Vision for Canada, (Ottawa: 1991).
Canadian Society of Environmental Biologists. "Conservation Strategies in Canada", Newsletter 44.2, July 1987.
Cullingworth, J.B. Urban and Regional Planning in Canada, (Transaction Books, 1987).
Dykeman, Floyd W. (ed). Integrated Rural Planning and Development, (New Brunswick: Rural and Small Town Research and Studies Program, Mount Allison University, 1988).
Fenge, Terry, and W.E. Rees (eds). Hinterland or Homeland: Land Use Planning in Northern Canada, (Ottawa: Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 1987).
Government of British Columbia. Report on a Land Use Strategy for British Columbia, (Victoria, B.C.: Commission on Resources and Environment, 1992).
Government of Canada. Canada's Green Plan. (Ottawa: Environment Canada, 1990).
. Canada's Green Plan and the Earth Summit. (Ottawa: Environment Canada, 1992).
. Canada's National Report: United Nations Conference on Environment and Development Brazil, June 1992. (Ottawa: Environment Canada, 1991).
. The State of Canada's Environment, (Ottawa: Environment Canada, 1991).
Government of Manitoba. Provincial Land Use Policies, Order in Council 217/80.
Government of Prince Edward Island. A Conservation Strategy for Prince Edward Island, (Charlottetown: Co-ordinating Committee for Conservation, 1987).
Hildebrand, Lawrence P. Canada's Experience With Coastal Zone Management, (Halifax: The Oceans Institute of Canada, 1989).
International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Agenda 21: Abstracts, Reviews, and Commentaries. (Theodora Carroll-Foster, editor), (Ottawa: IDRC, 1993).
Keating, Michael. Agenda for Change: A Plain Language Version of Agenda 21 and the Other Rio Agreements. (Geneva: Centre for Our Common Future, 1993).
Lang, Reg (ed). Integrated Approaches to Resource Planning and Management. (The Banff Centre/University of Calgary Press, 1990).
Manning, E.W. Resource Planning and Management: Seeking Sustainable Solutions. (Sweden: Sweden-Canada Seminar on the Integration of Land Use Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment, 1991).
Perks, W.T., and P.J. Smith. "Urban and Regional Planning" in The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2nd edn., vol. 4. (Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1988).
Petch, Arthur R. Planning Integrated Resource Management in Alberta. Working Paper #43, (Ottawa: Lands Directorate, Department of the Environment, 1985).
Richardson, Nigel H. Land Use Planning and Sustainable Development in Canada. (Canadian Environmental Advisory Council, 1989).
. "Land Use Planning and Sustainable Development in the Canadian North" in Plan Canada, March 1989.
Roseland, Mark. Towards Sustainable Communities, (Ottawa: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, 1992).
Royal Commission on the Future of the Toronto Waterfront. Regeneration: Toronto's Waterfront and the Sustainable City: Final Report, (Ottawa: Ministry of Supply and Services Canada, 1992).
Royal Commission on the Land (Prince Edward Island). Everything Before Us. Final report. (Charlottetown: 1990).
Task Force on Northern Conservation. Report. (Ottawa: Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, 1984).
Thompson, Andrew R. "Resource Management" in The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2nd edn.,
vol. 3. (Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1988).
Wolfe, L.D.S., et al. "Methods of Achieving Cooperation in Estuary Management" in Proceedings. (Seattle: Coastal Zone '87 Conference, 1987).
World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).
Information Sources:
Canadian Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Earth Observation Technologies
Friends of the Earth, #701, 251 Laurier Ave. West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5J6,
tel (613) 230-3352, fax (613) 232-4354.
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Centre William Rappard, Rue Lausanne 154, CH - 1211, GenŠve 21, tel (022) 739-51-11, fax (022) 731-42-06.
Wildlife Habitat Canada, #301, 1704 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K2A 1C7,
tel (613) 722-2090, fax (613) 722-3318.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), #504, 90 Eglinton Ave. East, Toronto, Ontario, M4P 2Y3,
tel (416) 489-8800, fax (416) 489-3611.
The Centre for Our Common Future, Palais Wilson, 52 Rue des P…quis, CH-1201, Geneva, Switzerland, tel (41 22) 732-7171, fax (41 22) 738-5046.
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development,
Cite as: Projet de société: Canada and Agenda 21.Winnipeg: IISD, 1995. Online. Internet. http://iisd.ca/worldsd/canada/projet/c10.htm.
