Forestry 415Sustainable Forest Policy

OverviewGeorge Hoberg

September 4, 2014 1

Today’s Agenda

Foundations Domain, concepts Categories of

forest policy Analytical

framework Policy cycle

Course Materials

September 4, 2014 2

Course domain in context

Sustainability policiesPolicies for natural resource management▪Renewable natural resources

▪ForestsBC

September 4, 2014 3

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

4

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

September 4, 2014 415 - Overview 5

Sustainable Forest Policy

415 - Overview 6

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.”

September 4, 2014 415 - Overview 7

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

Forest Policy Objectives

8

Forest Policy Objectives

September 4, 2014 9

Forest Policy Challenges

Conflict of values, interest Spatial distribution of interest

esp rural vs urban Long time horizons Factual uncertainty

September 4, 2014 10

Categories of Forest Policy

Tenure – allocating government-owned timber

Stumpage -- pricing

Rate of harvest – allowable annual cut (AAC)

Land Use – zoning for different values (logging, conservation, etc)

Forest Practices – regulating harvesting

Emergent areas and overlaps (energy, carbon)

September 4, 2014 11

Analytical Framework: Forces at work in natural resources policy

12

policies

actions

consequences

Analytical Framework: Forces at work in natural resources policy

13

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

14

Analytical Framework - Governance

political dimension who decides who participates

vertical dimension – at what level of government

regulatory dimension – with what instruments

15

Theme

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

September 4, 2014 16

Policy Cycle Model

17

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

September 4, 2014 18

Class composition

September 4, 2014 19

36

29

2

17

8

class composition

BSFCONSBSFSMSFMother

Course materials

Syllabus Readings Assignments

exams simulation

Participation Connect Website

September 4, 2014 20

How to thrive in exams

21

Overview reading for today

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)

September 4, 2014 22

George Hoberg

Born American; Canadian citizen since 1992

BS UC Berkeley in Political Economy of Natural Resources

PhD from MIT in political science

UBC department of political science 1987-2000

UBC Faculty of Forestry since then

out of closet climate hawk – faculty coordinator of UBCC350

23

Teaching style

September 4, 2014 24

Today’s Agenda

Foundations Domain, concepts Categories of

forest policy Analytical

framework Policy cycle

Course Materials Critical Thinking

assignment

September 6, 2012 25

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

September 6, 2012 26

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.

27

Critical Thinking Assignment for Tuesday

Read the Hume article Write down and bring to class next

Thursday: 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

28

Tuesday

Guest Speaker – Patrick Bixler: Community Forests in the Context of BC’s Tenure System

Reading: Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, Area-Based Tenure Discussion Paper. 2014. http://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures/files/2014/03/Forest_Tenure_Discuss_Paper.pdf

September 4, 2014 29