In this webinar, Kelly Brown (Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management and Heiltsuk Reconciliation) and Paul Kariya (Coastal First Nations) shared the history of Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative and the establishment, governance, and management of its carbon offset program. By sharing their experience they offer guidance to other Nations pursuing natural climate solutions in their territories.

In 2000, First Nations with traditional territories along British Columbia’s Central and North Coast joined to protect their lands and waters and rebuild their coastal economy. Since then, Coastal First Nations, an alliance of nine First Nations, have established path-breaking government-to-government relationships, reconciliation agreements, and protected areas while building a conservation economy in the Great Bear Rainforest. A cornerstone of these efforts include their establishment and operation of the largest Indigenous-owned carbon offset program of its kind.