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Public-Private Partnership Secures $120 Million for the 21-million acre Great Bear Rainforest

Innovative financing package to fund conservation management and ecologically sustainable business ventures along British Columbia Coast

Vancouver, British Columbia – January 21, 2007 –  To meet the ecological and economic challenges within the 21 million acre Great Bear Rainforest, a public-private partnership has established a $120 million fund to finance conservation management and ecologically sustainable business ventures along the British Columbia Coast. At a ceremony today in Vancouver, the Canadian federal government committed $30 million (CAD), the British Columbian government committed $30 million (CAD) and the philanthropic community committed $60 million (CAD).

The agreement in the Great Bear Rainforest – and the unprecedented consensus among industry, ForestEthics, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club of Canada-BC Chapter, First Nations, governments and local communities that made it possible – marks a watershed event in modern conservation and recognizes that a sustainable economy is vital to a sustainable environment. Private funds will flow to a conservation endowment fund, dedicated solely to conservation management, science and stewardship jobs in First Nations’ communities. Public funds will be used for investments in ecologically-sustainable business ventures within First Nations’ territories or communities.

“Today we have secured the largest integrated conservation investment package in North American history” said Scott Paul, Forest Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace. “Once again all eyes are on Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest and our innovative, precedent-setting approach to protecting the environment.”

The Great Bear Rainforest is part of the largest coastal temperate rainforest remaining on Earth and supports some of the oldest surviving cultures in the Western Hemisphere. The lands and waters support wolves, six million migratory birds, grizzly bears, black bears, rare white Spirit bears and First Nations’ communities that have lived here for more than 10,000 years.

The funding announcement supports agreements to create a lasting model of conservation in the Great Bear Rainforest by formally protecting 5 million acres from logging and placing more than 19 million acres under strict land management guidelines called ecosystem based management by 2009. Making these agreements real on the ground and shifting logging practices remains the next big challenge.

“The challenges of our age require innovative approaches that place a premium on a healthy environment. With today’s announcement we’re proving that conservation can attract investment and actually support jobs that won't threaten the living systems that we depend upon,” said Merran Smith, BC Coast Program Director, ForestEthics.

For the last two years, The Nature Conservancy and a core group of U.S. and Canadian foundations including The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Wilburforce Foundation and Tides Canada Foundation have together raised more than $58 million (USD) in private, philanthropic funding to conserve the Great Bear Rainforest.

“The economic challenges facing the people of the Great Bear Rainforest are as important to address as the area’s conservation challenges,” said Steve McCormick, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “Protected areas are vital to the future of the Great Bear Rainforest, yet they alone are not enough to ensure the long-term survival of the rainforest and the human and natural communities within it. The establishment of this public-private fund is a global model of what conservation must become - an inherent part of economies, environments and cultures.”

Learn more about the Great Bear Rainforest:

• Great Bear Rainforest
  The Great Bear Rainforest stretches more than 250 miles and encompasses 21 million acres of coastal temperate rainforest. View an interactive photo essay of the Great Bear Rainforest and take a journey through this rich and storied landscape.
• The Nature Conservancy in Canada
  The Nature Conservancy works closely with an array of partners in Canada to preserve the natural heritage that's so vital, not only for plant and animal species, but for local and global human communities as well.
• Rainforests
  Wild and wondrous, rainforests extend from as far as Alaska and Canada to Latin America, Asia and Africa. See rainforest photos of animals and plants, watch rainforest videos, and take our rainforest quiz!
• How You Can Help: Donate online now
  Support our work in Canada to preserve places like the Great Bear Rainforest.

The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working to protect the most ecologically important lands and waters around the world for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.