Today, Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton released the final version of Alberta’s new Land-Use Framework (LUF) and committed to introduce implementing legislation in 2009. The LUF acknowledges that “we have reached a tipping point, where sticking with the old rules will not produce the quality of life we have come to expect.” If the LUF is implemented effectively, it could become one of the government’s most important initiatives in decades.
In response to the release of the LUF, the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta have provided the Government of Alberta with a checklist for successful implementation of the LUF.
“The Land-Use Framework is a policy that is long overdue, which makes it that much more critical that the government move rapidly to effectively and efficiently implement it,” says Steve Kennett, Senior Policy Analyst at the Pembina Institute.
The report, Making It Real Checklist: Benchmarks for Implementing Alberta’s Land-Use Framework, recommends that the Government of Alberta take actions in six key areas to translate the LUF’s policy direction into meaningful change on the ground.
- Set interim measures to maintain land-use values and options that are at risk during the planning process.
- Ensure that the plans set measurable management thresholds and regulatory limits on cumulative impacts.
- Establish and fund an inclusive and transparent public planning process that is informed by sound science and trade-off analysis.
- Ensure effective implementation of the LUF by appointing for each planning region a government land-use manager who is responsible for achieving the outcomes specified in the plans.
- Implement effective monitoring and reporting at provincial and regional scales to support adaptive management and ensure accountability for LUF implementation.
- Create a solid legal and institutional foundation for the LUF to ensure that land-use plans can deliver the outcomes wanted by Albertans.
“Decisive provincial leadership is essential to implement the LUF,” says Rick Schneider, Senior Policy Analyst at CPAWS. “The Land-Use Framework will only become ‘real’ when provincial priorities are set out as specific environmental and land-use goals that reflect public values, environmental limits, trade-off analysis and the reconciliation of provincial policy.”
The government will be making other important announcements about the LUF in the coming months. Planning for the northeast and southern region will be launched, including the release of terms of reference for the plans and the appointment of multi-stakeholder Regional Advisory Councils. An implementation plan for the LUF is also being prepared and draft legislation will be tabled in the spring session of the legislature.
“The terms of reference for the first regional plans offer the government an opportunity to demonstrate a clear commitment to start making informed choices about what Albertans want based on what is possible,” says Kennett. “The current approach of trying to do ‘everything, everywhere, all the time’ is no longer tenable. There are limits, they are real, and we need to learn to live within them if we want to protect the landscapes Albertans cherish.”
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For more information:
Rick Schneider, CPAWS (Edmonton)
Tel: 780-662-4233
contact@borealcentre.ca
Steve Kennett, The Pembina Institute (Calgary)
Tel: 403-269-3344 ext. 115
stevek@pembina.org
A copy of the report, Making it Real Checklist: Benchmarks for Implementing Alberta’s Land-Use Framework, can be downloaded here or from the CPAWS Northern Alberta website.
Background
The Land-Use Framework (LUF) is intended to bring about fundamental changes to the way the Government of Alberta makes decisions about land and resource use. The Government of Alberta has stated that the LUF “will provide a vision for land use in Alberta and the overall direction needed to manage growth and activities on Alberta's landscape.” In particular, it is intended to address the following challenges:
- managing growth, mounting land-use pressures and cumulative effects
- reconciling competing demands for land
- ensuring sustainability of land use for ourselves and for future generations
- integrating land-use policies
The LUF is an ambitious initiative that raises important implementation issues. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Northern Alberta, and the Pembina Institute released a detailed report in October 2008, entitled Making It Real: Implementing Alberta’s Land-use Framework, that provides an implementation roadmap for translating the LUF’s positive policy direction into meaningful change. That report is available here or from the CPAWS Northern Alberta website.
Many past plans, such as the Alberta Forest Conservation Strategy, the Regional Sustainable Development Strategy for the Athabasca Oilsands Area, and the Northern East Slopes Strategy, suffered from a lack of government commitment and follow-through, and they were not fully or successfully implemented.
