B.C. parks system not ready for climate change, auditor general finds
British Columbia’s parks system is not prepared for the effects of climate change, according to the province’s auditor general.
John Doyle including this finding in his report on B.C. parks and protected areas, which was released today (August 23).
“We found that while climate change as a stressor to the parks system has been recognized by the ministry, the potential implications have not been contemplated in an overall plan for the parks system,” the report, Conservation of Ecological Integrity in B.C. Parks and Protected Areas, states.
According to the report, the B.C. Ministry of Environment is not meeting its goal of conserving ecological integrity in the province’s parks and protected areas.
The auditor general found incomplete program plans lacking adequate performance measures, conservation policies that are not being consistently upheld; dated management plans, and a parks system not designed to make sure ecological integrity is safeguarded.
Doyle also concluded that many parks and most ecological reserves are too small, protected areas are not adequately connected to other such areas, and the parks system doesn’t suitably represent the province’s biogeoclimatic zones.
The report notes that Doyle and his team expected to find that the ministry was reporting on the state of ecological integrity in the parks system, but discovered that it is not.
