We are excited to share with you the release of our new short film, MaPPing BC’s Ocean Future. Watch it online here: http://youtu.be/pCjGVBohEjc. Please share!
The five-minute film highlights the historic collaboration between the Province of British Columbia and 18 member First Nations to create Canada’s first large-scale marine plans—plans designed to protect BC’s long-term ocean health and create sustainable marine economies. The new film’s release comes during the public comment period for MaPP, during which members of the community are invited to share their input on the draft plans.
We are looking worldwide at the best examples of marine planning. British Columbia caught our eye because of the collaboration among First Nations and the Province of BC, the vast coastal waters that provide for a strong marine economy, and the development pressure the region is facing.
Art Sterritt, executive director, Coastal First Nations, explains that a strong emphasis for the marine plans is to create local, sustainable jobs. “Our plans are designed to take only the natural capital that exists within our region, whether you’re in the terrestrial side or the marine side, we only take and put into the economy what the region can sustain. And that’s what the plans are really about.”
Representatives from tourism, local government, academia, conservation and commercial fishing are also interviewed in the film. “One crisis after the other essentially is what brings people to the table, right?” Dan Edwards, representative for the BC Commercial Fishing Caucus, points out. “So the need for proper planning in the face of that is just going to increase.”
In June we head back to British Columbia for further filming. The full-length film is expected to be completed towards the end of the year.
Thanks for all you do!
Karen Anspacher-Meyer
Executive Director, Green Fire Productions
