The era of single-industry towns on the B.C. coast is over. People throughout the province are attempting to make their communities less dependent upon unsustainable resource extraction and more resilient through diversification strategies and by gaining greater control over their local natural resources.

Ecotrust Canada’s economic development approach is based on increasing local access and community control over adjacent natural resources, diversified ownership and economic activity, and maximizing value-added production. We need to do more with less and move away from low-valued commodity markets. We need to end the boom-and-bust cycle that has defined B.C.’s rural economy in the past.

A healthy community is rooted in a diversified, resilient economy. Ecotrust Canada works to build the capacity of communities, First Nations and entrepreneurs to participate in the conservation economy.