Many changes are happening in the Island with the rapid expansion of the potato industry, the increase in soil erosion, the land clearing, the forest clearcuttings and the increase in the pesticides use. As a result, conflicts between farmers and their non-farming neighbors have increased considerable as the public concern has also. The Government wants more development in the Island to generate more wealth but there are concerns about the way this development is been done, about the poor management of it and also about the controls may feel inadequate. People don’t want the experts and interested people to be the only ones involved with the decisions about that development.
To address those issues, the Government decided to develop a Resource Land Use Strategy that would identify ways of achieving this objectives:
1) “increase the contribution of resource lands and their use to wealth creation in the province;
2) maintain and improve the capacity of the lands to generate wealth for future generations;
3) minimize the conflicts between the use of resource lands and other land uses, and minimize the impacts on human health and the environment; and
4) increase public satisfaction with resource land use.”
The Round Table (RT) has been working from April 1996 until August 1997, meeting community, industry and environmental groups to discuss topics about the Island development.
The RT conclude on three basic principles:
– a working rural landscape (sustainable approach in land uses and development (farm practices, understanding of the primary resource economy of the rural areas and their practices by all residents),
– a healthy environment (high quality drinking and surface water, good soil quality and erosion control, replenishing harvested forests, pesticide control and habitat protection), and
– a successful alliance of communities and individual well-being (problem solving and planning, authority and information within the communities to direct economic development, sustainable approaches are put in practice and taught in schools, good balance of social life and economic life within the communities when young people have opportunities and seasonal residents contribute) .
For guidelines for environmental issues, they refer to the Environmental Farm Plan (Atlantic Farmers Council) and the Guidelines for Manure Management and Separation Distances in Prince Edward Island (P.E.I. Department of Agriculture). The RT makes many recommendations regarding the development of the Island in those recommendations The RT recommend that the Farm Practices Review Board complete the development of codes of practice for the significant agricultural operations by 2000 and that would have to be implemented by 2002. RT also recommend that official zoning plans increases to 25% by 2000 up to 50% by 2003 and that the emission of building permits for areas not having official zoning plans be limited.

This report is very interesting because many solutions come within the Island and are directed toward sustainable approaches in farm practices and land uses. The communities are the center of the success of the desired changes as they should control their development assuring social and economical wealth.