Farmers will get help to identify and use environmentally friendly products and practices through a new provincial institute.
The Alberta Institute for Agriculture, Forestry and the Environment will focus on identifying and promoting Alberta’s environmental goods and services.
The institute was formed to develop a framework to encourage good environmental behaviour, said John Donner, Alberta Agriculture’s deputy minister of environment and food safety.
Already pilot projects around the Prairies encourage wetland protection. The institute will look at those projects and find the best way to encourage their adoption.
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“How can we learn from pilot projects that we can put in a specific framework so that the market can pay for certain things?” said Donner.
He cited an example in New York state, in which a company wanted to invest in a water treatment plant. Instead of spending large amounts of money on capital projects, it worked with farmers and foresters to help maintain the quality of water coming into the plant, he said.
The institute will have a five-member board, including two farmers. The board will:
- Develop a policy framework for environmental goods and serve markets within Alberta.
- Identify environmentally sound practices from around the world that can be adopted to increase market access for Alberta’s renewable resource industries.
The government will provide $800,000 and a small staff to support the work of the institute.
Former Liberal leader Ken Nicol will chair the institute.
