List of policy instruments:
Ontario's Forest Policy and Laws
More Information
Ontario’s forests are part of a larger global forest ecosystem. On behalf of the people of Ontario, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is responsible for protecting and managing Crown forest lands and resources in a sustainable manner for a wide range of values for both present and future generations. This commitment is referred to as sustainable forestry or sustainable forest management. This commitment is the foundation of Ontario’s forest policy and law, which is outlined in the Policy Framework for Sustainable Forests, defined in the Crown Forest Sustainability Act and implemented through the other policy instruments described in this section. Collectively these documents comprise the forest policy and legal framework for the stewardship of Ontario’s Crown lands.
Sustainable forest management:
- means ensuring the long-term health of forest ecosystems while balancing environmental, economic and social benefits both now and in the future
- embodies the need to conserve biodiversity
- involves clearly defining desired future forest conditions and ensuring that actions taken are compatible with maintaining or achieving those conditions during forest management planning.
- depends on the use of a widely accepted framework of sustainable forest management criteria and indicators that together describe forest sustainability
- relies on periodic assessments of forest ecosystem health and socio-economic conditions and public reporting to ensure accountability and transparency in decision-making and to demonstrate that sustainable forest management is being achieved on the ground.
MNR's Approach to Policy
MNR develops three levels of policy: strategic, program and operational & administrative.
The Ministry of Natural Resources defines “policy” as a statement of intended direction developed to guide present and future actions and decisions.
A policy statement may deal with any level of decision or action from high-level strategic directions to task-specific administrative procedures.
Policy is documented and implemented through “policy instruments”. Policy instruments include strategic policy statements, legislation and regulations, program policies and strategies, directives, procedures, guidelines and standards. They give authority for taking action in specific circumstances and as such must have legitimacy. They must be approved at the appropriate level of authority, be defensible rationally and legally, and be acceptable to the group to which they apply.
Some MNR policies have the force of law while others provide guidance, but are not in themselves legally binding. In addition, MNR is responsible for provincial level strategies such as Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy that are adopted by government and provide guidance although on their own are not enforceable by law.
MNR considers a number of categories of policy instruments when determining the right instrument (or set of instruments) to address a policy issue, including:
- institutional / organizational instruments such as establishing or changing the mandates, responsibilities, and/or actions of organizations and groups
- regulatory instruments prescribing behaviour through the force of law such as legislation, regulations, by-laws, enforcement procedures
- non-regulatory instruments such as guidelines, codes of practice, self-regulation, directives, procedures, standards, and amnesty and incentive programs
- negotiated formal or informal agreements among parties to achieve consensus and assign responsibilities
- economic instruments such as taxes, grants, loans, fees, rebates, funding, subsidies, fines, market-based incentives/disincentives
- communications instruments to inform and improve awareness, understanding and response of target groups.
- understanding and responses to target audiences.
