Status report on Ecosystem-based Management (EBM) : Policy barriers and opportunities for EBM in Canada

The financial support of the Ivey, Pew and Hewlett Foundations, the Nature Conservancy, the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), and Natural Resources Canada were essential to the negotiation and implementation of the agreement. [...] For the purposes of this report, the CBFA definition of EBM was used as a basis to develop a list of criteria that became the framework for evaluating the implementation of EBM in seven boreal provinces of interest. [...] A core component of the criteria is understanding the natural range of variation (NRV) in the structure and composition of a forest, and using that knowledge to guide forest management practices. [...] An overarching and inalienable principle of the CBFA is to endeavour to concurrently achieve high degrees of both ecological integrity and socio-economic prosperity, guided by best available information and other principles (CBFA, s. 10) – the “Twin Pillars.” The practices that are agreed to under the Goal 1 work need to balance both ecological and economic considerations, and consider the cumulat [...] The working definition of EBM as defined under the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA) is as follows: “A management system that attempts to emulate ecological patterns and processes, with the goal of maintaining and/or restoring natural levels of ecosystem composition, structure and function within stands and across the landscape.” Some would argue (including some experts interviewed for the p