 |
|
|
| |
|
2002/03 Annual Service
Plan Report
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management |
|
| |
Ministry Role and Services
Ministry Vision
A vibrant economy supporting the social and
environmental values of British Columbians.
Mission
To provide provincial leadership, through policies, planning
and resource information to support sustainable economic development
of the province's land, water and resources1.
The Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM) is the lead
provincial agency responsible for strategic policies and plans concerning
sustainable management of Crown land and water use, pricing, registration
of private land titles and other tenures, strategic policies concerning
property assessment and the provision of information concerning
all natural resources. The ministry administers key legislation
such as the Land Act, the Water Act and the Land
Title Act.
Governance principles for sustainable resource management
The ministry is committed to the following sustainability principles
to guide its activities and delivery of public services. These principles,
and their wider application across government, will be reviewed
as they are applied to key policy initiatives led by the ministry.
Accountability — Setting performance-based standards
and indicators and implementing mechanisms for compliance, auditing
and reporting on progress towards sustainable resource management.
An effective enforcement regime is a key part of accountability.
Certainty — Making timely and clear resource management
decisions within a predictable and understandable regulatory framework.
Competitiveness — Ensuring that British Columbia remains
internationally competitive by removing barriers to investment and
promoting open trade.
Continual improvement — Learning from the past and
looking for new and improved approaches to resource management.
Efficiency — Maximizing the net benefits arising from
the allocation, development and use of natural resources.
Innovation — Encouraging innovative approaches, technologies
and skills to ensure the sustainability of natural resources.
Integration — Ensuring that resource management decisions
integrate economic, environmental and social considerations for
the benefit of present and future generations.
Science-based decision-making — Making justifiable
decisions informed by science-based information and risk assessment.
Shared responsibility — Encouraging co-operation among
First Nations; federal, provincial and local governments; industry
and non-governmental organizations in developing and implementing
resource management policies.
Transparency — Establishing open and understandable
decision-making processes including consulting with key interests
prior to making decisions. Transparency also includes the public
release of monitoring and compliance records, and tracking of sustainability
indicators.
Organizational Values
The ministry is committed to the following values regarding organization
and staff behaviour:
- professional and high-quality client service;
- respect for the opinions and values of others, treating each
other and those we serve with fairness, dignity and compassion;
- excellence as responsible stewards of the environment;
- a diverse workforce that is welcoming and inclusive;
- the highest standards of dedication, trust, cooperation, pride
and courtesy;
- teamwork to support each other and work together across divisional
and geographical boundaries;
- balancing personal and workplace expectations;
- communicating our expectations and decisions while being receptive
to ideas regardless of origin; and
- leadership and responsive management in a changing environment.
Ministry Overview
Services
Four broad, interrelated types of services are provided to clients.
The ministry:
- Identifies opportunities for the sustainable economic development
of natural resources and guides the priorities of other provincial
agencies while maintaining key environmental values.
- Develops resource-management plans, including land-use and resource-sector
planning, that capitalize on economic development opportunities
identified by the private sector, other agencies and the ministry.
- Provides efficient and effective collection, storage, access
to and analysis of registry, resource and geographic information
for the management of natural resources.
- Develops strategic policies and legislation that are consistent
with the government's strategic plan to guide the allocation and
pricing of natural resources and related information.
The ministry is also committed to organizational excellence and
provides corporate support services, including administrative, financial
and human resource management, to its staff.
Clients
The ministry's principal clients include related provincial government
ministries and corporations, federal and local governments, First
Nations, resource businesses and non-profit organizations. The results
of its land and resource planning and policies are largely implemented
through other ministries and agencies such as Land and Water British
Columbia Inc. (LWBC). By contrast, the ministry's integrated registries,
resource and geographic information and business services are used
directly by both private and public clients.
Primary resource clients cover six major industry sectors: forestry;
tourism; mining; oil, gas and energy extraction; agriculture and
aquaculture. These sectors directly account for about 17 per cent
of British Columbia's gross domestic product (GDP)2.
The ministry also impacts other industry sectors to a lesser degree.
These include telecommunications, real estate and transportation.
Together, primary and secondary clients directly account for 32
per cent of the provincial GDP.
As the BC Progress Board pointed out in its recent
report on the economic state of rural British Columbia3,
the revitalization of land-based industries will be one of the critical
determinants of the future of rural communities across the province.
Under the government's heartlands strategy aimed at this issue,
providing secure access to natural resources through land and resource
management plans, making timely decisions, ensuring a competitive
regulatory process, providing consistent principles for aboriginal
consultations and facilitating business-aboriginal partnerships
will have a major influence on rural revitalization and achieving
government growth targets. The ministry has an important role in
implementing each of these policy initiatives.
Outcomes
As shown in Figure 1, the ministry's functions and services aim
at delivering outcomes that support the government's strategic goals
and achieving many of the reforms advocated by the BC Progress Board.
The emphasis is on promoting economic development, revitalizing
investment and creating jobs while maintaining key environmental
values.
Ministry Operating Context
A number of factors affected the focus, scope and delivery methods
of the ministry's services during the year, including:
- Sluggish economic recovery in US and Asian markets for several
major BC resource-based industries. The emphasis industry and
government place on certainty of access to Crown-owned resources
as a driver for economic growth has increased markedly. Industry's
partnering capacity has been reduced.
- Recent court decisions which have led to new requirements for
consultation with First Nations on asserted-but-unproven
aboriginal rights and title, and for accommodation, where appropriate.
Timelines for completion of a number of Land and Resource Management
Plans (LRMPs) and other types of plans have been extended to allow
for more effective consultations. Additional resources have been
devoted to developing various policies, agreements and tools to
meet these requirements and increased government priorities.
- Environmental issues involving such areas as contaminated sites
and the working forest. The ministry has taken the lead in developing
government-wide policies that will guide management plans for
contaminated sites on provincial lands. Greater than anticipated
public interest in the Working Forest project resulted in an extension
to the public review and comment period, delaying original timelines.
Internal considerations, such as the reorganization of resource
data, overall restructuring and the sheer complexity of issues have
led to a recognition it will take more time and resources than initially
anticipated to properly complete some ministry work.
Strategic Shifts and Significant Changes in Policy Direction
Major shifts in the external environment affected both the natural-resource
sector and the ministry itself. In addition, government's new strategic
plan calls for increased emphasis on promoting economic development,
revitalizing investment, creating jobs and working with First Nations,
while maintaining key environmental values. The ministry also has
significant internal challenges and opportunities.
To respond to these challenges, meet government's overall goals
and new directions and remain within budget, the ministry began
several broad changes during the year, including:
- Substantially revising its Service Plan and ministry organizational
structure to accelerate access to Crown resources to support sustainable
economic development.
- Negotiating protocol agreements with First Nations to expedite
agreements on economic development and land-use planning (Sea-to-Sky,
Lillooet, Central/North Coast, Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands,
and Morice LRMPs4). This will provide more certainty
and access to Crown resources, meet new legal tests for consultation
and, where appropriate, accommodate First Nations interests. In
turn, investment will be encouraged and rural community development
assisted.
Key strategies
Six key strategies have been developed in collaboration with other
natural resource ministries. Most of these span several ministry
goals and divisions and are supported by strategies specified in
the 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan as well as in the Performance
Reporting section. The strategies are to:
1. Develop a sustainable resource management framework for
working forests, protected areas, mining, and oil and gas development
through application of sustainability principles.
2. Establish landscape objectives5 to increase
access to timber while maintaining biodiversity and provide direction
for forest- and range-stewardship plans required by the results-based
Forests Practices Code.
3. Expedite resource-based tourism opportunities in rural
British Columbia by coordinating activities in Land and Water British
Columbia Inc. (LWBC), the Ministry of Forests (MOF), the Ministry
of Water, Land and Air Protection (MWLAP) and Tourism BC.
4. Support mining, and oil and gas development in the Muskwa-Kechika
and other land-use plans.
5. Establish government-client teams in each region to identify
resource-development opportunities supported by resource-use plans
and information.
6. Complete the Central Coast Strategy6 to provide
economic opportunities for First Nations and resource-based opportunities
through ecosystem-based management7 for forestry and
other resource users that will meet market requirements and revitalize
the central coastal economy.
The ministry will maintain focus on a number of other major strategies,
all of which are integral to or part of New Era commitments,
including registries integration, e-filing for land title documents,
and data standards and access regarding resource information.
In order to meet these shifts in priorities and timelines, the
ministry has begun to change the delivery of a number of strategies
listed in its 2002/03 – 2004/05 Service Plan.
- Private sector partnerships and transition strategies for a
number of information services will be identified.
- Time frames for activities and results on the BC Trust for Public
Lands, land-use plan monitoring and the Archaeological Sites Awareness
program implementation have been extended.
- The ministry supported the change in the revenue structure of
LWBC, including its independence from the ministry beginning in
2003/04.
New initiatives are being undertaken, including development of
a stronger client focus and improved consultation, coordination
and priority setting with provincial ministries and agencies. These
entities are major clients for ministry services and at a time of
reduced resources and service capabilities, it is important to ensure
resources are devoted to the most effective and efficient ends.
The ministry has therefore begun the process of negotiating service-level
agreements with all major clients.
As a consequence of these 2003/04 – 2005/06 Service Plan
changes, a number of strategies, performance measures and targets
in the 2002/03 plan were amended. Details are in the Performance
Reporting section.
Update On New Era Commitments
| Government Strategic Direction |
Progress |
| New Era
Commitment |
| 1. Eliminate backlog and delays in Crown
land applications. |
Achieved. Land application backlog
has been eliminated. The application process has been redesigned
and simplified to achieve a 50% reduction in process time. (See
Land and Water British Columbia Inc. (LWBC) 2002/03 Annual Service
Plan Report for further details). |
| 2. Provide faster approvals and greater
access to Crown land and resources to protect and create jobs
in tourism, mining, farming, ranching, oil and gas production. |
Achieved. 90% of new land applications
are being processed within 140 days or less. The land and water
application process has been redesigned and integrated. Standardized
business rules have been implemented across all regions. (See
LWBC 2002/03 Annual Service Plan Report). |
| 3. Make the Land Commission more regionally
responsive to community needs. |
Achieved. Regional decisions are
being made by regionally based panels. (See Agricultural Land
Commission 2002/03 Annual Report). |
| 4. Establish a working forest land base
to provide greater stability for working families and to enhance
long-term forestry management and planning. |
On track. Initial policy development
work was essentially completed with the January 2003 release
of a discussion paper on the proposed Working Forest. Comments
from the public have been received and discussions held with
some First Nations and stakeholders. Confirmation of government's
Working Forest policy will follow, along with enabling legislation
at the end of 2003, and designation effective spring 2004. |
| 5. Adopt a scientifically based, principled
approach to environmental management that ensures sustainability,
accountability and responsibility. |
On track. A set of 10 governance
principles for sustainability was approved by Cabinet in May
2002 for stakeholder consultation. The revised principles are
expected to be considered by Cabinet in the context of the Working
Forest initiative.
The Coast Information Team produced a draft Planning Handbook
and Science Compendium to support ecosystem-based management
in coastal BC. These reports will be revised in 2003/04 to
produce a final product for implementation.
Land Information BC has been initiated with partner ministries.
Five service-level agreements are under development with client
agencies to provide access, products and services around a
land and resource information base that is of high quality,
timely, integrated, science-based and geographically referenced.
|
| 6. Give property buyers more information
about prospective properties by ensuring that notices of known
archaeological sites must be registered with the Land Title
Office. |
Delayed. The Archaeological Site
Awareness Project is on hold until 2005. Information about known
archaeological sites is still compiled and available through
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management (MSRM), Archaeology
and Registry Services Branch. |
| 7. Deregulation — immediately identify
good opportunities to eliminate unnecessary and costly regulations. |
On track. The ministry is on schedule
to achieve the targeted reductions in regulatory requirements.
(See Performance Reporting section). |
| 8. Create a BC Trust for Public Lands to
encourage and facilitate the expansion of public lands through
private donations. |
On track. A consultant's report is
under review by the ministry, Ministry of Water, Land and Air
Protection (MWLAP) and the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal
and Women's Services (MCAWS). |
| Key Projects |
| 1. Build a structure for the ministry and
prepare a business plan to implement the objectives of the government
in this area. |
Achieved. Ministry fully operational.
The ministry's submission to the Core Services Review and Cabinet
in the fall of 2001, as well as its two service plans published
since, articulates the ministry's goals, objectives, strategies,
performance measures and targets to achieve the government's
objectives. |
| 2. Review the status of existing land-use
plans and current land-use planning processes and develop a
strategy to conclude province-wide land-use plans in a manner
which is expeditious and balanced and results in plans which
can be implemented on the ground without significant delays. |
Delayed. A revised timetable for
completion of LRMPs has been approved, and work on the plans
is proceeding. A new Sustainable Resource Management Planning
process has been developed which is consultative, opportunity-focused
and faster to complete. |
| 3. Develop a plan to resolve land and water
use conflicts between ministries and external interests. |
On track. The ministry's water planning
team has formed an inter-agency group with representation from
MWALP, MCAWS and the ministries of Forests, Health and Agriculture,
Food and Fisheries to exchange information, identify issues
and develop strategies. The ministry is also resolving conflicting
tenures of other resource agencies that delay economic development. |
| 4. Reduce the backlog in applications. |
Achieved. A 93% reduction has been
achieved in water licence backlog. (See LWBC 2002/03 Annual
Service Plan Report). |
| 5. With the Ministry of Water, Land and
Air Protection, develop a program to implement the Living Rivers
Strategy. |
On track. MWLAP is leading the implementation
of this strategy. In support, MSRM has completed a review of
the watershed-based fish sustainability planning process. |
| 6. Rationalize the numerous land and resource
inventory information systems to create a central source of
integrated information that can be accessed by users both within
and outside government. |
On track. Currently have reduced
the number of corporate systems by 5%. Fifteen provincial data
sets have been loaded into to the Land and Resource Data Warehouse.
Land Information BC has been initiated to provide fast, easy
access to integrated land and resource information. |
| 7. Create a central registry for all tenures
and other legal encumbrances on Crown land and resources. |
On track. The overall project is
on track for completion by March 31, 2007. A business case has
been completed for the Integrated Registries sub-project. This
project is designed to create a central registry for all tenure
and legal encumbrance information. The Data Assessment sub-project
is also complete. |
| 8. Optimize the financial return from the
use of Crown land and water resources consistent with province's
land-use and water policy objectives. |
On track. A $54 million dividend
was provided by LWBC to government in fiscal 2002. LWBC is on
target to earn $79 million in revenue this fiscal year. |
| 9. Examine the feasibility of establishing
a 20-year plan for infrastructure rights-of-way. |
On track. The ministry and LWBC worked
with Ministry of Transportation to complete a revised policy
for fees related to infrastructure rights-of-way for digital
cable. |
| 10. Within 18 months, develop a working
forest land base on Crown land for enhanced forestry operations,
accompanied by effective and streamlined approval processes
for forest operations in those zones. |
On track. See New Era Commitment
#4. |
|
|
