Population and Economic Activity

Overview - What is Happening?

Most of the population of B.C. (76%) lives on the coast. The greatest concentration of people is in the lower mainland and on southern and eastern Vancouver Island.

Photo credits: Fishing vessel - Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Deltaport freighter- BC Ministry of Transportation, Log boom - BC Parks, Logger - BC Ministry of Transportation

By 2025, the coastal population of B.C. is projected to increase by a million people--to more than 4 million residents. In the densely populated areas of the south coast this will inevitably increase the pressure on the environment through land-use changes and loss of natural habitat, increasing water demand, sewage and waste production, and emissions of air and water pollutants.

Economic activities, such as timber harvesting, mining, fishing, aquaculture, manufacturing and tourism, take place up and down the coast. In B.C., natural resource-based industries produce more than half the value of all provincial exports. Industries such as forestry, fishing and tourism depend on healthy ecosystems, yet most economic activities have some kind of impact on those ecosystems, either temporarily or permanently. Economic development and population growth along the coast will continue, but there are choices in how much, how soon, and in what way this growth should occur. Sustainable growth-management policies can moderate the negative impacts of population growth, as can adopting technology and initiatives that reduce consumption and cut down on pollution.

There are large differences in the type and scale of pressures and impacts between the less populated central and northern areas of the coast and the densely populated areas of the south coast. For example, in B.C. as a whole, only 2% of the land area has been converted to urban development, agriculture, mining, recreation and similar uses. In contrast, in the Greater Vancouver Regional District, about half of the land area is occupied by such uses.

For detailed information, including graph data, see In-Depth report.

Next: Rate of Selected Land-Use Changes in GVRD 1986 to 2002 >>