If you want to find out more about Clayoquot Sound and the issues surrounding the
Temperate Rainforests visit Dr.
McVay's Clayoquot URL's.
What is a Biosphere Reserve?
Biosphere Reserves are areas of land and marine environments,
which are internationally recognized by the UNESCO
(United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organisation) Man and the Biosphere Program. They are nominated
by national governments and must meet a set of criteria before
being designated.
Biosphere Reserves have legally-protected core areas
(which give long-term protection to landscapes and ecosystems),buffer
zones (where activities are organized so they help support
the conservation objects of the core areas), and zones of
co-operation (where people work together to use the area's
resources in a sustainable manner).
Biosphere Reserves promote and demonstrate a balance
between people and nature. While Biosphere Reserves are not
parks and the Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve has no
jurisdiction over land-management issues, they do serve to
combine the four functions of conservation, sustainable economic
development, community health, and support for research,
education, and training
Biosphere Reserves form a World Network. Within this
Network, exchanges of information, experience and personnel are
promoted, in particular among Biosphere Reserves with similar
ecosystem types and/or with experience in solving similar
conservation and development problems.
Where is the Clayoquot Sound
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve?
The Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is situated in the
central western region of Vancouver Island in British Columbia and
covers an area of about 3,500 square kilometers — approximately the
size of Prince Edward Island.
It extends from Esowista Peninsula in the south to just north of
Estevan Point. It includes both land and marine areas. The Reserve
area totals 350,000 hectares, of which 110,000 are parks and
Ecological Reserves.
The Reserve falls within, and is adjacent to, the traditional
territory of the Nuu-chah-nulth Central Region First Nations:
Hesquiaht, Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht, Ucluelet and Toquaht.
The Reserve encompasses a vast range of ecosystems, including
large tracts of temperate rainforest, many lakes, rivers and
streams, alpine slopes, inshore marine areas, mudflats and
estuaries, and wild coastal beaches.
Core areas of the Reserve include the Long Beach Unit of Pacific
Rim National Park reserve and over 95,000 hectares of provincial
parks.
When was Clayoquot Sound
designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve?
In January 1999, the communities of Clayoquot Sound, in
partnership with federal and provincial governments, officially
applied through the Canadian Commission for UNESCO to nominate
Clayoquot Sound as British Columbia's first international Biosphere
Reserve.
On January 21, 2000, after many years of effort by local First
Nations and Communities, UNESCO designated the Clayoquot Sound
Biosphere Reserve.
On May 5, 2000, representatives of First Nations, local
governments, the province of British Columbia, the Government of
Canada and UNESCO were joined by local residents to officially
commemorate the designation of Clayoquot Sound. Then Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien was in attendance to announce a $12 million endowment
fund for the Biosphere Reserve, known as the Canada Fund.
