Forestry 415Sustainable Forest Policy

OverviewGeorge Hoberg

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Today’s Agenda

Foundations Domain, concepts Categories of

forest policy Analytical

framework Policy cycle

Course Materials

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Course domain in context

Sustainability policiesPolicies for natural resource management▪Renewable natural resources

▪ForestsBC

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Core Concepts

actions, policies, governance actions – behavioural

actions▪ choices by firms, consumers▪ produced consequences for

values of concern policies – rules produced

by government that influence actions

governance – who decides the rules

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Forest Policy Defined

a purposive course of action or inaction followed by government in dealing with a matter of concern regarding the use of forest resources

conserve 50 per cent of the natural range of old growth forests

Legally established Central and North Coast Amendment Order

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Sustainable Forest Policy

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Sustainable Forest Management

Our goal is to maintain the long-term health of Canada’s forest ecosystems, for the benefit of all living things, and for the social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being of all Canadians now and in the future.”

1992 Canada Forest Accord, as quoted in Luckert, Haley, Hoberg, Policies for Sustainably Managing Canada’s Forests p. 20

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Forest Policy Objectives

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Forest Policy Objectives

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Forest Policy Challenges

Conflict of values, interest Spatial distribution of interest

esp rural vs urban Long time horizons Factual uncertainty

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Categories of Forest Policy

1. Allocation of “Crown” timber-- tenure 2. Pricing -- stumpage 3. Rate of harvest – allowable annual

cut (AAC)4. Land Use – zoning for different values

(logging, conservation, etc)5. Regulation of harvesting --

Forest Practices6. Emergent areas and overlaps (energy

, carbon)

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Analytical Framework: Forces at work in natural resources policy

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policies

actions

consequences

Analytical Framework: Forces at work in natural resources policy

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environment

governance

markets

policies

actions

consequences

Analytical Framework – Environment and Markets Environment

Biophysical environment Resource characteristics

Markets Prices Exchange rates Supply and demand Trade restrictions

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Analytical Framework - Governance

political dimension who decides who participates

vertical dimension – at what level of government

regulatory dimension – with what instruments

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Theme

Policies are produced through governance processes, influenced by environment and markets.

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Policy Cycle Model

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Agenda-Setting

Policy Formulation

Decisionmaking

Policy Implementation

Monitoring and Evaluation

Today’s Agenda

Foundations Domain, concepts Categories of

forest policy Analytical

framework Policy cycle

Course Materials Critical Thinking

assignment

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Course materials

Syllabus Readings Assignments

exams simulation

Connect Website

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class composition

BSFCONSBSFSMSFMother

Overview readings for today Marty Luckert, David Haley, and George

Hoberg, Policies for Sustainably Managing Canada’s Forests: Provincial Tenure, Stumpage Fees, and Forest Practices, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011), introduction

Benjamin Cashore, George Hoberg, Michael Howlett, Jeremy Rayner, and Jeremy Wilson, In Search of Sustainability: Forest Policy in British Columbia in the 1990s, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2001), pp. 3-7, 17, 20-29 (reading packet)

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Professor Bio – George Hoberg

Born near Philadelphia, moved to San Francisco area for high school

BS from University of California, Berkeley (Political Economy of Natural Resources

PhD from MIT (Political Science) Prof in UBC Political Science Department

1987-2001 – Canadian citizen in 1992 Prof in UBC FRM Department 2001-

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Today’s Agenda

Foundations Domain, concepts Categories of

forest policy Analytical

framework Policy cycle

Course Materials Critical Thinking

assignment

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Critical Thinking assignment

Daniel Kahan, “What Is Motivated Reasoning and How Does It Work?, Science and Religion Today May 4, 2011.

Mark Hume, “The fight to protect what’s left of old-growth forests,” Globe and Mail, March 17, 2013

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Motivated reasoning

motivated cognition: unconscious tendency to fit processing of information to conclusions that suit some end or goal biased information search: seeking out (or

disproportionally attending to) evidence that is congruent rather than incongruent with the motivating goal

biased assimilation: crediting and discrediting evidence selectively in patterns that promote rather than frustrate the goal

identity-protective cognition: reacting dismissively to information the acceptance of which would experience dissonance or anxiety. 

Daniel Kahan, “What Is Motivated Reasoning and How Does It Work?, Science and Religion Today May 4, 2011.

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Critical Thinking Assignment for Tuesday

Read the Hume article Write down and bring to class:

1 important argument in the article Value(s) underlying that argument Factual assertion, if any, behind the

argument Max 15 minutes of “research” to fact-

check

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Tuesday

Critical reading assignment Evolution of BC forest policy Readings:

Daniel Kahan, “What Is Motivated Reasoning and How Does It Work?, Science and Religion Today May 4, 2011.

BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, Timber Tenures in British Columbia: Managing Public Forests in the Public Interest, June 2012,

George Hoberg, “Bringing the Market Back In: BC Natural Resource Policies During the Campbell Years,” in British Columbia Politics and Government, Micheal Howlett, Dennis Pilon, and Tracy Sommerville, eds, (Toronto: Edmond Montgomery, 2010), pp. 331-43, 349-51. (reading packet)

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