Gerald Romsa
Voluntary Planning Draft Report –Some preliminary remarks.
VP is to be commended on synthesizing the various reports and inputs given at the open forum citizen meetings. The present report is quite broad and thus one can take from the draft what one wishes depending on one’s inclinations. My comments are limited to my first quick read and are from the viewpoint of someone who would have to formulate policies based on the draft.
1. I have no sense how strong each of the five themes is. Unless one has an awareness of the significance of each theme one may conclude that they are of equal importance. Such a conclusion could lead to one set of recommendations. This could be different from a second set of recommendations which was formulated on the findings that sustainability and diversity are the two most crucial themes. Your time and resources are scarce but a quick content analysis may shed some light on the rankings. For instance the section on diversity is very strong and its umbilical cord ties it to the other sections. However this is lost in the forestry section. The statements expressed in the diversity section magnify similar statements made in the forestry section. An example is the statement on the uniqueness of the Acadian forest and how this in turn requires a different management approach. An accurate report on what was presented an each section, although transparent and balanced at the section level , may not be so if viewed at the macro level. For instance if the majority of the presenters at the parks, biodiversity and mineral sections expressed a view similar to the presenters in the forestry section who wished to curtail as much as possible clear cutting, then this is a much stronger statement than what is conveyed through an individual section report.
2. Balance is not well defined or adequately described in the report in terms of ongoing resource extraction practices. From the one meeting I attended and from reading the submissions my impression is that many Nova Scotia citizens perceive that the exploitation of our natural resources is now tilted in favour of unsustainable practices. That is it is presently unbalanced. Once these present practices are tilted back to neutral than a balanced approach from this neutral starting point to sustainable harvesting/extraction may be viable. This is different than initiating a more balanced approach from the present ongoing unbalanced forest management policies.
These are some initial comments and perhaps the next stage(s) in your process will address some of the issues raised.
Sincerely,
Gerald Romsa