Protecting the Great Bear Rainforest

PHOTO: CRISTOBAL RUIZ

The value of preservation of the wildlife, so that we might have the opportunity to study, stumble-across or perhaps even photograph.  And the value of preserving the ocean, so that we may use, study, and appreciate its waters and resources for many years to come. 

Intrinsically connected to the ecology and aesthetics is the cultural and spiritual value of the Great Bear Rainforest.  Perhaps the livelihood of the current 17 different First Nations people who live in and utilize the Great Bear Rainforest is the most valuable part of the forest.  Perhaps, the greatest value of this rainforest lies in its historic past of many First Nations who have left and continue to integrate parts of their culture within it.  And maybe, the greatest value lies in the local First Nation’s knowledge of this vast temperate rainforest, and giving, what should not even have to be given, respect to their deep spiritual connections with their land and the other forms of life which inhabit it.  Perhaps this value would be best put in precedence, to allow the people whose home resides within the rainforest, the people who have used this land further back in human history than we can see, who are in a sense the most knowledgeable of this landscape, and arguably the most justified to choose its value.

Or perhaps, we could side-step these rights and values, as has been done in many places and times before, and decide that the Great Bear Rainforest’s greatest value lies in its economic value. The aesthetic value and the value of the ecosystem services provided by thousand year-old trees could be, and have already been, traded for the economic value of the lifeless logs. Ecological values have been twisted into economical and prize through trophy hunting.  These atrocities have already decimated part of the balance of this rainforest, but through increased voice and awareness, are now beginning to be managed more appropriately. 

THIS WORK COULD ALL BE REVERSED HOWEVER AS AESTHETIC, HUMAN, CULTURAL, SPIRITUAL AND ECOLOGICAL VALUES COULD BE THREATENED AND TRADED FOR THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF AN OIL PIPELINE.  

This recently approved pipeline is the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which plans to pump oil from the Alberta oil sands to the coast, in order to ship to both the U.S. and Asia.   The risk of poisoning the soil and sea from this pipeline are enormous.  Consider first, there is not a single pipeline in Canada that hasn’t leaked.  Furthermore, Enbridge’s personal record of 804 pipeline spills in an 11 year period, and moreover causing the death of 9 people due to explosions from their pipelines does not instill much faith.   And, not to mention, the treacherous planned route along the coast for tankers carrying extraordinary amounts of oil to navigate.  These supertankers will be up to 330m in length, and consider now: this route is challenging for ships half that size.  It is hard not to believe that economic value will drown and undermine the other important values of this region.

PHOTO: CRISTOBAL RUIZ

These values are already devalued even in the unlikely event that there isn’t an oil spill. Ecological values are challenged through loss and fragmentation of habitat along the pipeline route, logging of the pipeline route, and the disruption of marine mammals caused by supertanker traffic.  Supertanker traffic will chip away at the aesthetic value of this beautiful coastline, while the pipeline on land will cut through prime forest area. Cultural values have already been overlooked by a lack of adequate involvement in discussion and consultation with all of the First Nation’s people affected along the pipeline route. 

The challenge with values is that in order to become tangible and noticed they must be given a voice.  It seems that recently economic value has the loudest voice, but I believe this voice is disproportionately large.  Economic value has the advantage in that it is perhaps more easily imagined; we can put a number on it in the form of money, economic gains and job creation.  It is of my firm belief, however, that these more unquantifiable values of ecology, beauty, and cultural connection and land rights, trump any number an economical value could give for this breath-taking region.

By Jennie Bishop