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The Coast Information Team (CIT) was an independent, multidisciplinary group established and supported by the government of British Columbia, First Nations governments, the forest industry, environmental groups, communities, and, later, the federal government, as part of the implementation of the 2001 CCLCRMP (Central Coast Land and Coastal Resource Management Planning) Phase 1 Framework Agreement.
The CIT operated under a joint Memorandum of Understanding between these parties. The purpose of the CIT was to provide independent information and analyses for the development and implementation of ecosystem-based management in the north and central coastal region of British Columbia.
The CIT became operational in January 2002 and completed its work in March 2004. The CIT received funding from the provincial government (58%), environmental organizations (18%), forest products companies (18%), and the federal government (6%).
The CIT brought independent science, informed by local and traditional knowledge, to British Columbia's standard strategic land use planning model.
The CIT analyses and assessments provided a regional context for evaluating the ecological, cultural and economic importance of particular areas, and helped inform sub-regional, landscape and site level decision-making.
The CIT approach to Ecosystem-based Management developed by the CIT was designed to achieve ecosystem integrity and human wellbeing concurrently. The CIT provided clear principles, goals and objectives; ecological management targets; implementation tools (including an EBM planning handbook); and procedural steps to guide the implementation of EBM in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Cultural and economic spatial analyses were undertaken together with an ecosystem spatial analysis to identify priority areas for all value sets including cultural, economic development and biodiversity conservation.
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