GNWT Land Use and Sustainability Framework

Northern Tools to Advance Land Interests and Achieve Northern Priorities

A tool is a means to achieve an objective. The framework lays out where we want to go as we transition to our new role as a land owner and responsible land manager. The tools available to the GNWT include legislative and regulatory instruments, policy, strategies, frameworks, action plans, formalized decision-making processes, and models. The GNWT already has many tools in its tool kit, and will inherit additional tools through devolution. Devolution is part of the political development of the NWT. In order for devolution to have meaning in the long term, it will be important for NWT residents to assert their own ideas about how territorial land should be managed.

Setting Legislative and Policy Foundations

In order to ensure a smooth transition during the devolution process, the GNWT has committed to mirroring existing federal legislation. This does not mean that land management will never change. The GNWT’s new leadership role includes considering what new legislation and policies may be required for the future.

Land-Use Planning

The GNWT considers regional land-use plans to be the primary instrument to define where certain activities can take place. The GNWT recognizes that the purpose of regional land-use planning in settled claim areas in the Mackenzie Valley is to protect and promote the existing and future well-being of the residents and the communities of the settlement areas, having regard to the interests of all Canadians. Territorial land interest must take community and regional aspirations into account. It is a GNWT priority to promote and support effective land-use planning in all regions in the NWT.

Ecological Representation Network Planning

Ecological representation is a conservation-planning approach to identify  core areas for protection that are representative of a region’s biodiversity. The GNWT is developing a plan to identify, prioritize and fill gaps in ecological representation. Decisions about the use of land will be informed by this planning.

Information Management

Territorial land interests can be better advanced if land managers have information about how territorial land is currently being used and can reasonably forecast future uses. Enhanced information-management capacity will assist in evidence-based decision-making and in communicating with all parties.