Role in Harmony: Part of the “Great Bear Rainforest” agreement story. Often interviewed with Art Sterritt. Formerly with ForestEthics, now with Tides of Canada.

Bio: The former B.C. Coast Program Director for ForestEthics, Merran Smith is a senior conservation strategist and consultant working to advance clean energy leadership in Canada. Ms. Smith is at the vanguard of a new environmentalism that actively promotes economic innovation and diversification as an integral component of environmental sustainability. She led the campaign to protect Canada's Great Bear Rainforest which culminated in 2006 in one of North America's largest conservation agreements.

Ms. Smith played a key role in uniting a divergent coalition--First Nations, logging companies, corporations, government and environmentalists – in the negotiations.

She also played an integral role in developing a conservation financing initiative that raised $120 million in public and private funds to ensure that the ecological gains in the Great Bear Rainforest are coupled with sustainable economic growth for First Nation coastal communities. Her leadership continues as a board member for the Coast Opportunity Foundation, which manages the funds.

Merran Smith was the recipient of the Wilburforce Conservation Leadership Award (2006) and the Sierra Club of Canada Award (2001). The conservation agreement in the Great Bear Rainforest was awarded WWF International’s ‘Gift to the Earth’ Award in 2007.