Alberta's new Land-Use Framework (LUF) could become one of the government's most important policy and legislative initiatives in several decades. It 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." But its success is not guaranteed. The outcome will hinge on key implementation decisions in the coming months. A new report released today by the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta provides the Government of Alberta with a proposed implementation roadmap for the LUF.
"The Land-Use Framework will only become 'real' when provincial priorities are set out as specific environmental and land use goals," says Rick Schneider, Senior Policy Analyst at CPAWS. "The process of defining these goals should be informed and guided by public values, environmental limits, trade-off analysis and the reconciliation of provincial policy," says Schneider.
"Integrated regional planning is the engine of the Land-Use Framework, and setting regional objectives to manage cumulative impacts is where the rubber hits the road," says Steve Kennett, Senior Policy Analyst at the Pembina Institute. "We need to start making informed choices about what we want based on what is possible. 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."
The report, Making It Real: 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.
1) Set measurable land-use outcomes for each planning region, including management thresholds to limit cumulative impacts.
2) Establish the capacity to achieve regional outcomes, including supportive policies and the appointment of a government land-use manager for each planning region who is responsible and accountable for the plan.
3) Remove obstacles to LUF implementation, for example by reconciling competing mandates of different government departments.
4) Provide essential support needed to fully implement the LUF in the areas of land use modelling, monitoring, interim measures, increased staffing and ongoing funding.
5) Build good governance into all aspects of the LUF, including effective public and stakeholder participation, transparency and accountability in decision making, and systematic performance monitoring and reporting.
6) Create a solid legal foundation to ensure that land use plans can deliver the outcomes wanted by Albertans.
"There is reason to be cautiously optimistic that Alberta is on the verge of badly needed and long overdue changes to land and resource management," says Simon Dyer, Oilsands Program Director at the Pembina Institute. "The government's draft Land-Use Framework acknowledges the unprecedented pressures of development and states that we have reached a tipping point. However, we need to translate these concerns into action and actually implement rules that will protect Alberta's landscapes."
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For more information:
Rick Schneider, CPAWS (Edmonton)
Tel: 780-662-4233
contact@borealcentre.ca
Simon Dyer, The Pembina Institute
Tel: 403-721-3937
Cell: 403-322-3937
simond@pembina.org
A copy of the report, Making it Real: Implementing Alberta's Land-Use Framework, can be downloaded from www.pembina.org/pub/1715 or www.cpawsnab.org.
Background
The Draft Land-use Framework (LUF), released on May 21, 2008, was the result of extensive public and stakeholder consultation. It is a good first step toward the fundamental changes that are needed to fix Alberta's badly outdated system for land and resource management. LUF implementation will begin in December 2008 with the release of the government's final policy and implementation plan and the launch of the Northeast Alberta Regional Plan.
The LUF is intended to bring about fundamental changes to the way that 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. Making it Real is an implementation roadmap that recommends actions in six key areas to translate the LUF's positive policy direction into meaningful change.
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.
