Click here to add your voice for the Atlin-Taku.
Why it's important: Communities in the north and around the world are witnessing changes to their livelihoods, traditional territories and landscapes at accelerating rates. In an era of climate change, these communities are on the frontlines and it remains imperative that we seek new, rigorous and innovative ways to manage lands, buffer extreme changes and facilitate the persistence and adaptation of people and wildlife. In ages gone by, First Nations and Indigenous peoples of Canada migrated with changing climates, following the hunt into new lands. With treaty negotiations, First Nations’ traditional territories are now fixed and can no longer migrate to maintain their traditional ways of life – their lives will change, possibly dramatically. Planning the use of these lands in light of climate change is necessary and urgent.
In British Columbia’s north, the Atlin-Taku remains a precious, largely unroaded jewel, home to wealth of biodiversity and vast wilderness. The traditional territory of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, the Atlin-Taku region, is currently being planned in a land use planning process, in a government-to-government process between the province of British Columbia and the Taku River Tlingit First Nation (TRTFN). British Columbia's wealth of biodiversity is well known to conservationists, scientists, and the funding community. With tens of thousands of species, many of them found nowhere else, BC has long been regarded as one of our world's most precious places. A precious jewel in BC is the Atlin-Taku region in northern BC - it is still true wilderness and mostly unroaded.
As the planet warms, ecosystems are unraveling. As habitats shift, it is difficult for many species, especially those that don't have air-borne seeds, wings or sufficiently long legs, to keep up. Species that are more mobile are expanding their ranges northward and into higher altitudes-but the ones that cannot are in grave danger. Preserving intact ecosystems with sufficient connectivity will be vital
to helping these species survive.
The land use planning process provides an opportunity to plan to protect this crucial habitat for humans and wildlife, and their futures in light of climate change. As far as we know, this has not been done before anywhere in Canada and perhaps North America.
A land use planning process is underway in the Atlin-Taku region of BC with a set timeline. Completion of the main land use plan is slated for mid-2010. While this new style of land use planning process is predominantly focused on the government-to-government (G2G) relationship between the Province of BC and Taku River Tlingit (TRT), there is a parallel process where the BC Government is obligated to consult with a suite of stakeholders. (e.g. ENGOs, trappers, tourism interests, the mining sector, etc.)
This project focuses on developing a spatial product that shows the areas and habitats within the Atlin-Taku land use planning area that need to be protected - especially in light of climate change. This is the first time that any land use plan in British Columbia, and possibly Canada, has been done. We have pulled together a team of outstanding climate change experts, biologists and ecologists, and mappers to develop a leading edge decision-making tool. We expect the result will be that the Province of BC, the Taku River Tlingit, the ENGOs and other stakeholders will all see the importance of protecting a significant portion of the watershed, significantly more than is currently contemplated in order to have the best chance for the most species and habitats to survive the effects of climate change.
The urgent need for these efforts cannot be overstated and the timing is excellent. Here, in the Atlin-Taku region of Canada, habitat protection can be based on an understanding of the future and as a result more habitat will be protected.
In collaboration with the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium, world renowned climate scientists, ecologists and wildlife biologists, and in consultation with the Taku River Tlingit, CPAWS-BC is analysing the Atlin-Taku region to develop a recommendation for protecting conservation values taking climate projections into account. We are currently working with other ENGOs to ensure that both governments – the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and the Province of BC – complete a visionary land use plan that protects all of the ecological values of the Taku region; that plans for the impacts of climate change; that considers the economic values of protecting a pristine and productive transboundary river; and offers a stable investment climate for the future in spite of climate change. Specifically, this project seeks to craft a spatial conservation vision.
The resulting maps and documents will lay out the areas within the Atlin-Taku land use plan area that need to be protected specifically in light of climate change. Specifying local ecological changes resulting from climatic shifts will present the best opportunity to maximize the amount of habitat that is protected. This is the first time that any land use plan in British Columbia, and possibly Canada, has been done to incorporate projected changes in climate.
To find out more, click here.
CPAWS - British Columbia Chapter