West Coast Environmental Law
Research Foundation
NewsletterWest Coast Environmental Law
Research Foundation
NewsletterLandowners will soon be able to protect their private property by granting a conservation covenant to a non-government organization, under changes to the Land Title Act recently passed by the provincial government. The Act will come into force by regulation.
For some time WCELA has been advocating law reform to expand the use of conservation covenants in BC. The recent amendments to the Land Title Act are an important first step in implementing our recommendations.
The amendments are set out in Bill 28, the Land Title Amendment Act, 1994, introduced by the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks, Moe Sihota. Bill 28 provides that a conservation covenant can be held by "any person designated by the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks on terms and conditions he or she thinks proper." Essentially, it allows designated non-government organizations to enter into conservation covenants with private property owners and provides a mechanism to have these covenants registered on title to the affected property, remaining on title even if the land subsequently is sold to a new owner.
The amendments allow a conservation covenant to provide that "land or a specified amenity in relation to it be protected, preserved, conserved, maintained, enhanced, restored or kept in its natural or existing state in accordance with the covenant and to the extent provided in the covenant." An amenity is defined as including "any natural, historical, heritage, cultural, scientific, architectural, environmental, wildlife or plant life value relating to the land that is subject to the covenant."
Bill 28 also amends the Assessment Act by adding a subsection providing that, "in determining actual value, the assessor shall give consideration to any terms or conditions contained in a covenant registered under section 215 of the Land Title Act." This should provide the basis for property tax relief to property owners who use conservation covenants to protect their property.
In 1992 WCELA released a law reform report entitled Using Conservation Covenants to Preserve Private Land in British Columbia, written by David Loukidelis and edited by Staff Counsel Ann Hillyer. The work was funded by the Real Estate Foundation of BC. Our report outlines a number of additional law reforms to encourage the voluntary protection of ecologically significant private land through the use of conservation covenants. Although the recently introduced amendments do not contain all of our suggested changes, they are a significant step forward and will allow this tool to be used more effectively in the province to protect private land.
Experience in the United States and elsewhere has shown that a conservation covenant can be a powerful tool for successfully protecting private land for ecological purposes. Even though private land is a relatively small portion of the total land base in the province, much of the environmentally important land in BC is privately owned.
We congratulate the provincial government on this initiative. For a copy of the WCELA report, contact our office.
-- Ann Hillyer
The following is extracted from Bill Andrews' introduction to West Coast's 20th annual general meeting:
The 20th anniversary of the West Coast Environmental Law Association is a good vantage point from which to make some observations about environmental law in BC. First, to put things into perspective, 1974 may seem like a long time ago, but it's not even a blink of the eye of human history. Only ten thousand years ago, the spot we are now in was covered in ice. A hundred and fifty years ago there were virtually no Europeans living here. Environmental laws meaning laws made by the legal systems of Western nation states are an extremely recent phenomenon. Remembering this can help us to comprehend that environmental law has already changed and will continue to change rapidly more and more rapidly.
Second, pressure on the environment is increasing incredibly quickly. The human population of the earth the underlaying determinant of threats to the environment — will double, from under four billion in 1970 to over eight billion in 2025. That's 55 years. For millenia after millenia, the human population rose up and down and never approached anything remotely close to four billion people. Now, that four billion mark is doubling during our lifetimes.
Third, environmental law is a creation of government, and the role of government is rapidly changing. When West Coast was formed in 1974, it was taken for granted that it was the government's role to protect the environment. Departments of the environment were being formed, environmental research institutes were funded, and environmental laws were passed. But now, only 20 years later, the Canadian nation state, like all other Western states, is in serious decline. Even the best governments have not been able to solve basic economic and social problems even within Canada, let alone around the world. Western governments have been addressing these problems with borrowed money. This simply will not continue much longer. Already, the government's entire annual deficit goes not toward funding social programs, or economic transition strategies or other good things, but to paying off the interest on previously borrowed money. Environmental law as we have known it in WCELA's first twenty years will decline in importance along with the decline in the influence of the Western nation state.
Fourth, as nation states decline in importance, global economic trade — and trade law — are becoming increasingly dominant. Contrary to the hopes of the believers in "Small is Beautiful," multinational trade agreements are becoming the economic constitutions of the new world. Even where a local government has the will and the wherewithall to adopt an environmental protection measure, it is increasingly constrained by trade agreements. These trade agreements blur the boundary between public and private law, and will rapidly become a key area of environmental law.
Private law is rapidly increasing in environmental significance. Both "buy green" attitudes and environmentally-motivated boycotts are proving extremely powerful. The new BC conservation covenant legislation we have been pushing for is based in private law. Similarly, the corporate environmental policies which have sprouted in the last few years will take on much more significance in the coming decades. Although these policies are mostly unenforceable statements of principle, that description also applied to the early environmental laws passed by governments. In short, the public law focus of environmental law will expand to include trade agreements, consumer action, landowner stewardship, corporate policies and other areas of private law.
Fifth, the communications revolution is upon us. Along with global trade there is a growing homogenization of the global elite. The "global village" is becoming a reality. But the global village has a caste system. The vast majority of the world's population live in abject poverty, apparently unaffected by all the new hi-tech toys. However, on closer examination, the communications revolution touches everyone. News of the World Cup soccer results reaches the barrios of Brazil as fast as it reaches the TV room at the Vancouver Club. And, the world's disenfranchised are not totally without access to these powerful communications tools. A well-timed terrorist act can put an obscure group onto the world stage. Media relations — in the communications era — has become a key part of a modern military campaign. This is becoming increasingly important as the collapse of the superpower standoff has led to more wars, not fewer. And, the boundary between war — government-sanctioned violence — and crime — non-government-sanctioned violence — is breaking down. Ironically, at a time when we have unprecedented ability to communicate with one another, inter-group conflicts — ethnic, tribal, religious, etc. — are flaring up around the world, both causing, and caused by, the population explosion, poverty, resource scarcity, economic dislocation and war.
What does this have to do with environmental law? First, the communications revolution means that we now know instantaneously about environmental problems in all parts of the world. And, increasingly, we can communicate with the elites in other parts of the world. The elites in this sense include literate environmentalists, as well as corporations and governments. What does "Act Locally" mean when it's just as easy to send a fax to Brazil as it is to send a fax to Victoria? Environmental lawyers — and our clients — the environmentally concerned citizens, will become increasingly involved in environmental issues in other parts of the world.
Second, the communications revolution means that elites around the world now know instantaneously about our environmental problems. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Premier Harcourt's recent announcement about logging on Vancouver Island reached Germany almost as fast as it reached us. The "public" in the phrase "public legal education" is becoming a global public. Our clients, people concerned about biodiversity or protection of oldgrowth forests in BC, will come not just from BC but from all parts of the world. And challenges to our environmental protection successes will increasingly come from beyond our political borders, too, as Ontarians know from the recent trade law attack on Ontario's beer bottle requirements.
Third, we have more reason to communicate with others around the world because it is becoming increasingly apparent that we are all facing similar problems. Global warming, ozone depletion, toxic contamination, loss of biodiversity, urbanization, energy demands, degradation of water and air quality: these problems occur everywhere in the world. Moreover, the solutions to these problems are similar — at least in kind — throughout the world: stewardship of the land, alternative technologies, alternative dispute resolution, land use planning, enforceable environmental standards, and so on. Environmental law has begun — just barely — to involve contacts with people from around the world, and this will increase dramatically in the next twenty years.
In conclusion, as we look back on twenty years of environmental law and think ahead twenty years, we catch a glimpse of the almost unseeable, a fleeting recognition of a pace of change that is so rapid, so unprecedented in human history, that it is almost impossible to take it in. Although we have made many advances in the last twenty years, we cannot escape the environmental ramifications of the simple fact that the world's population will double in our lifetimes. The industrial revolution, which fed this phenomonal growth, caused massive, unforseen adverse environmental consequences. The communications revolution will have as dramatic an impact as the industrial revolution, although it's harder to see it because we are right in the thick of it. In 1974, we challenged ourselves to "Think globally; act locally!" As we find ourselves now in the maelstrom of accelerating change, our challenge will be to "Think temporally, act now!"
On Monday, July 11th, the library of West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation was dedicated to the memory of Chris Lundberg, and her commitment to environmental protection and social justice. At a ceremony held that day, a commemorative plaque was unveiled, and the library was renamed the Lundberg Library.
Donations are being collected in Chris' name, and the funds received will be used to purchase materials on social justice in her honour. If you would like to make a donation to this new collection, please contact our office. We are also launching a book drive as part of this commemoration -- Chris was keen on recycling, and we think she would be pleased to have used books from private collections moved into the Lundberg Library for public use. Books may be dropped off at our office or mailed in. All books collected and purchased in Chris' memory will be stamped as part of the Lundberg collection and the donors name will be attached.
This year WCELRF, aided by funding from community groups and federal and provincial agencies, developed the Environmental Legal Information Base (ELIB), a computerized information resource designed to be used by environmental groups, lawyers, scientists, students, and concerned citizens.
Totaling 70 MB (about 40,000 pages) and growing, ELIB contains the full text versions of selected statutes, government publications, scientific documents and books, as well as the entire card catalogue of the WCELRF print library.Currently ELIB is accessed free by modem at (604) 684-2483. The next step for ELIB is the Internet. This will allow ELIB's infobase to be cross-referenced with other resources around the world and will dramatically expand the number of potential users. In the meantime, WCLERF's outreach programs are increasing the number of groups who know about ELIB and how it is used.
We are delighted to announce that Patricia Houlihan, Barrister and Solicitor, has joined WCELA as staff counsel on a one-year pilot project as the Liaison Lawyer for the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund (EDRF). Patricia brings a strong background in environmental law to West Coast and we look forward to working with her. This new position of Liaison Lawyer has been designed to improve the efficiency of the EDRF by having a lawyer available to work with EDRF client groups and their legal counsel and experts. Pat will be in touch will all current EDRF grantees over the next while. If you want more information about the Fund, or would like to make an application, please contact Pat at our offices.
WCELRF Newsletter, copyright 1994, (ISSN 0715-4275) is published by the West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation. This issue was produced by Bill Andrews, Morgan Ashbridge, Chris Heald, Ann Hillyer, Patricia Houlihan, Catherine Ludgate, Linda Nowlan, Denice Regnier, Chris Rolfe, Kim Stanton and Anne Wittman. Subscription information is at left. West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation does research and education and maintains an environmental law library. West Coast Environmental Law Association provides legal representation and promotes law reform. The mission of West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation and West Coast Environmental Law Association is to provide legal services to protect the environment and to foster public participation in environmental decision-making. We are grateful to the Law Foundation of British Columbia for core funding of West Coast Environmental Law Association and West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation. Donations to West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation are tax creditable.