Submitted by Gowgaia Institute-In this next talk of the Gowgaia Institute's Speakers' Series, we are fortunate to have Linda Coady, Vice President, Pacific Region, for World Wildlife Fund Canada.
Before joining WWF in 2003, Ms. Coady was a 20-year veteran in the BC forest industry and a Vice President of Environment for MacMillan Bloedel and Weyerhaeuser's BC Coastal Operations after Weyerhaeuser bought MB in 1999. She pioneered a series of initiatives that helped reduce conflict over coastal forests and create market incentives for conservation.
She was a founding Director of Iisaak Forest Resources, a joint venture in eco-forestry between Weyerhaeuser and aboriginal groups in Clayoquot Sound, an area on the west coast of Vancouver Island that was the focus of intense controversy over harvesting in 1993 and is now a UN Biosphere Reserve that contains the first Tree Farm License in BC certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
She played a key role in her company's decision to phase-out clearcutting on the BC coast and apply ecosystem-based management principles to commercial forest management.
She played a lead role in the forging of a coalition of forest companies and environmental groups dedicated to developing a world-class plan for conservation and management of old growth forests on the Central and North Coast of BC.
In 2001 she received a BC Ethics in Action Award for leadership in corporate social responsibility. She's a director of the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Program and Forest Trends, a global non-profit organization devoted to helping industry, conservationists, governments, researchers, and local communities understand how commerce can support conservation, responsible consumption and sustainable management.
Ms Coady is now using her ability to look for common ground among diverse interests to achieve WWF goals in BC. She is working in BC to mobilize more resources for endangered species recovery and harness product supply chains to enhance forest conservation values and environmental performance and the increasing pressure both locally and globally on marine environments means that building popular support in BC for new approaches to marine conservation is a major priority.
We invite everyone to an evening of interesting perspectives and lively dialogue.
This is the fourth presentation in the Speakers' Series which strives to inform discussion on issues affecting the Islands. The talk will be held November 5 at the Visitor Information Centre in Queen Charlotte. Doors open at 6:30 pm, the presentation begins at 7 pm, sharp. Reception to follow. Seating is limited.