Final Thoughts Back and better with the bioeconomy By Rob van Adrichem The role of the bioeconomy in Canada’s post-COVID economic recovery t seems to happen almost every day: a think tank, government organiza-tion, or blue-ribbon panel weighs in on the ingredients necessary for Canada’s post-COVID recovery and how “green” it should be. But as I write this, it seems premature to talk of a “post”-COVID recovery, with the world surpassing 35 million cases of COVID-19 and many provinces continuing to set single-day records for new cases. One thing, how-ever, is sure: whether we’re talking about a post-COVID recovery or just the con-tinued evolution of Canada’s economy, the bioeconomy is critically important. And why wouldn’t it be? The bioecon-omy is huge, employing upwards of two million people, according to Canada’s Bio-economy Strategy. Maybe more important than the large number of jobs is where they are, as employment in the bioecon-omy is spread across hundreds of com-munities large and small, helping to ad-dress urban-rural inequities and enabling forest-based communities to thrive. The bioeconomy is based on a renewable re-source that comes from sustainably man-aged forests and has the unique potential to both displace and sequester carbon, aid in the transition away from a dependence on fossil fuels, and lead the way to a cir-cular economy. The bioeconomy also has a social side, contributing to health and well-being, and cultural expression. The issue isn’t whether the bioecon-omy will continue to play an enormous role in Canada’s economy and society; it’s whether policy-makers and governments at all levels will seize this opportunity to make the bioeconomy a signature part of Canada’s low-carbon future. That’s where I we come in. The Canadian Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition, formerly known as the In-ternational Bioenergy Conference and Ex-hibition, started in 2004 in Prince George, B.C., to bring awareness to the growing market for Canada’s “waste” wood fibre in the form of wood pellets. While the man-date of the conference has evolved to in-clude a greater range of products from the wood biomass value chain, the conference has stayed true to its initial purpose: bring people together to explore opportunities in the bioeconomy and provide them with di-verse local, national, and international per-spectives that can inform the development of the bioeconomy at home and beyond. Our conference is certainly not alone in this mission. The Scaling Up and Cana-dian BioDesign conferences similarly ex-plore critical issues in the evolution of the bioeconomy in Canada, and WoodWorks, the Forest Products Association of Cana-da, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, the Wood Pellet Association of Canada, FPIn-novations, the Canada Wood Group, the Council of Forest Industries, the Canadian Wood Council, and Forestry Innovation In-vestment are all active in advocacy, public communication, and knowledge transfer. Likewise, multiple universities and colleges deliver related educational programs and conduct research on topics ranging from ecosystem sustainability to new products. Even with these organizations’ great work, we continue to require enhanced public education, government relations, and better communication within the sec-tor. If anything, it would seem the chal-lenge is greater than ever despite (or maybe because of) the proliferation of communi-cation channels. It’s a topic that emerged in the first webinar our conference present-ed this past June, when Canada Research Chair Warren Mabee of Queen’s University suggested that “communication” is one of the big challenges for the sector, particular-ly conveying messages aimed at the public and consumers about the relationship be-tween the bioeconomy and sustainability. Not coincidentally, the COVID-19 pan-demic is forcing all of us to become more creative in how we share information. The increase in digital delivery, such as webinars, is providing a broader range of stakeholders a kind of personal access to experts and information that simply didn’t exist before. During the same webinar in June, it was encouraging to hear B.C. Chief Forester Diane Nicholls express her excitement at the increase in the “chatter” around the bioeconomy, green solutions, and eagerness to do things better. The challenge now is translating that interest into real advancement for the bio-economy. Collaboration and co-operation among those of us active in the bioecono-my is crucial, as we continue to raise the profile and highlight the promise of this sector. We are honoured to have contrib-uted to this effort during our conferences and are grateful that, even though our 2020 conference has been postponed, we can continue to connect many bioecon-omy stakeholders online until hopefully we can all meet in person again. • Rob van Adrichem has worked in post-second-ary education and local government and is the chair of the society that presents the Canadi-an Bioeconomy Conference and Exhibition in Prince George. FALL 2020 22 Canadian BIOMASS
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