Minister Zach Churchill made this commitment in a recent CBC radio interview, indicating that the Department of Natural Resources will be pursuing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification on all public lands in western Nova Scotia. FSC Canada applauds the Minister’s decision as it will help benefit all forests and forest-dependent communities.
“This is an important commitment for a provincial government to make” says Francois Dufresne, President of FSC Canada. .”Nova Scotia is demonstrating clear leadership by moving in this direction. We look forward to working with the provincial government as it moves toward obtaining an FSC certificate for the western Crown lands.”
The decision to pursue FSC certification comes following public concern regarding harvesting near Panuke Lake in 2014 and the subsequent release of an independent report by the Mersey Woodlands Advisory Committee that calls on the province to obtain FSC certification for all mainland provincial crown lands.
Currently, over 50 million hectares of land, across all forest types, is FSC-certified in Canada, including about 650,000 hectares that are certified to FSC standards in Nova Scotia.
Listen to the interview here.