HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1  In this Act:

"afforestation" means the human-induced establishment of trees on an area of non-forest land to such an extent that the area becomes forest land;

"deforestation" means the human-induced removal of trees from an area of forest land to such an extent that the area is no longer forest land, but does not include the removal of trees from any area of forest land that is excluded from this definition by regulation;

"forest land" means an area of land that meets the prescribed requirements;

"net deforestation" means the difference between

(a) the amount of deforestation, and

(b) the amount of afforestation;

"non-forest land" means an area of land that has not been forest land at any time after December 31, 1989 or, if another date is prescribed under section 4 (2) (a), after that prescribed date;

"zero net deforestation" means that, measured by area, the amount of afforestation is not less than the amount of deforestation.

Goal regarding zero net deforestation

2  The government must achieve the goal of zero net deforestation within British Columbia by December 31, 2015.

Reporting on net deforestation

3  Beginning with a report on the net deforestation within British Columbia for the 2012 calendar year, and continuing with a report for every subsequent even-numbered calendar year, the minister must, as soon as reasonably practicable for each of those years, make public a report respecting

(a) the progress that has been made toward achieving the goal of zero net deforestation,

(b) the actions that have been taken by the government to achieve that progress, and

(c) the plans of the government to continue that progress.

Power to make regulations

4  (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) prescribing a date for the purposes of the definition of "non-forest land" in section 1;

(b) respecting the preparation of reports required under this Act, including, without limitation, respecting the timing, form and content of those reports, and respecting records that must be maintained in relation to those reports and access to those records that must be provided;

(c) respecting the methodology by which deforestation and afforestation are to be calculated;

(d) defining a word or an expression used but not defined in this Act;

(e) respecting any other matters that are

(i) required by this Act to be in accordance with the regulations, or

(ii) indicated by a provision of this Act as being a matter for a regulation.

(3) In making a regulation under this Act, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may do one or more of the following:

(a) delegate a matter to a person;

(b) confer a discretion on a person;

(c) make different regulations for different persons, places, things or transactions;

(d) adopt the provisions of a publication or adopt them as they are amended from time to time.

Commencement

5  This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

 
Explanatory Note

This Bill enshrines in legislation the government's goal of zero net deforestation within British Columbia.