Landowners and farmers who take steps to preserve the environment will be recognized and rewarded under a new Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS) program announced today by the Government of Prince Edward Island.
George Webster, Minister of Environment, Energy and Forestry, and Neil LeClair, Minister of Agriculture, joined a group representing farmers, watershed protection groups and environmentalists to announce a revolutionary system that will pay farmers for the ecological goods and services that all Islanders receive from a properly-managed landscape. There has been $750,000 allocated to this program in the current provincial budget.
“Properly managed land produces clean air, generates oxygen, traps carbon and filters the groundwater that all Islanders rely on for drinking. The problem has been that farmers and other landowners have never been properly rewarded for the services they provide through proper land use,” said Minister Webster.
“For too long we have worried about the environmental impact of land use without providing a real benefit to those people who make the commitment to use land in a sustainable way.
The ALUS system will help to correct that problem by investing our efforts where our needs are. We all depend on our rural landscape to provide Islanders with clean drinking water and pure healthy air; ALUS is a way to reward the farmers and landowners whose decisions make Prince Edward Island a healthier province in which to live.”
Under the ALUS program announced Thursday, a broad-based committee of stakeholders will design a program of incentives that would reward farmers for land use that provides Prince Edward Island with clean air and pure water. Incentives could include financial payments, tax measures or special considerations.
“Prince Edward Island farmers have been working hard to protect and enhance the quality of our soil, air and water resources through the adoption of sustainable production practices,” said Mr. LeClair. “This program, by providing rewards and recognition for those efforts, will further strengthen sound stewardship practices that will benefit all Islanders.”