B. C. Round Table on the Environment and the Economy : an update on sustainable development and reclamation

• Main Author: Hansen, Poul
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12560

Following the first round of public consultations, the B.C. Round Table on the Environment and the Economy is in the process of developing a draft strategy on sustainable development. The public consultations have taken the thirty-one members of the Round Table to all parts of British Columbia and many submissions have been received. Measured against the principles of sustainable development established earlier by the Round Table, sectorial strategies will be drafted after consultation with the industries concerned and other stakeholders. In the fall of 1991, this draft will be widely distributed for public input and another round of public consultations will be undertaken. It is expected that the Round Table's recommendations for a strategy for sustainable development will be submitted to the Government of British Columbia in the spring of 1992. The Round Table is an advisory body, not another level of government. It cannot make laws or change them. It reports to the government through the Ministers of Environment and of Regional and Economic Development and through them, to Cabinet. The mining industry has been an active participant in the workshops and public consultations. Its primary concerns have been to maintain access to exploration and opportunities to develop the rare occurrences of mineral deposits which can be economically extracted. New mining projects must submit to a rigorous development permit process, with public input, and which includes assurances of adequate eventual reclamation after the temporary use of the land. The mining industry is required to undertake - and has pioneered - intensive reclamation of disturbed lands, re-establishing the level of land productivity not less than what existed prior to mining on an average property basis.