File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Sharing the Land Resource - 1990 and Beyond" for Symposium: Local Agriculture, 1990 and Beyond (CNC, FAS-UBC & BCMAF) - November 28,1981.
Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech starts by looking at land philosophically and states (p. 2): "We sometimes need to be reminded that we are borrowing the land resource from the next generation".
The speech includes several important points made with clarity. A few examples include:
- the need to provide adequate linkages and lines of communication between agencies and different levels of government;
- while understanding the land is prerequisite to its wise and proper use - we still have incomplete and small scale inventory work available;
- nature's laws affirm rather than prohibit. If you violate her laws, you are your own prosecuting attorney, judge, jury.... and hangman;
- do our planning and direct our growth from within the confines of natural systems to take advantage of their attributes and avoid their negative aspects; and
- we need to not only understand land and water ecosystems but the people complex as well - and a great deal of patience and interdisciplinary compromise is needed.
A number of issues are reviewed:
- The agricultural - forestry interface
- Urban dreams meet rural realities
- The challenge of educating an increasingly urbanized population
- Escalating energy costs
- The competition for water"
