The chain of destruction from forest companies to consumers
The report names high profile and recognizable customers of logging and pulp companies Kruger, Abitibi-Consolidated, SFK Pulp and Bowater. Common products manufactured by the companies include books, magazines, copy paper, flyers, newspapers, and lumber all made from trees from critically endangered areas of the Boreal Forest. Rona, Coles/Indigo, Harlequin Books, Time Inc, Best Buy, Sears, Waz Essen and OfficeMax are among the more than thirty five customers named.
The report, Consuming Canada's Boreal Forest: The chain of destruction from logging companies to consumers, calls for action from the international marketplace to protect one of the largest ancient forests left on earth. It focuses on the provinces of Ontario and Quebec where less than nine per cent and five per cent of the forest, respectively, are protected from industrial development. The report details the environmentally destructive and socially unjust practices of forest products giants Abitibi-Consolidated, Bowater, Kruger, and SFK Pulp, and also condemns the governments of Ontario and Quebec for failing to protect the forest and legislate adequately.
More than 68% of the Boreal Forest under the collective management of the three logging companies has already been degraded or fragmented - an area totalling nearly 200,000 km2 or 315 times the size of City of Toronto.
The report is part of a new campaign highlighting the scale of destruction in the Boreal Forest and urging customers of the logging companies profiled in the report to temporarily suspend their multi-million dollar contracts until action is taken on the ground to protect the forest and end destructive logging.
The report release follows on the hanging of a massive banner from the Montreal headquarters of Abitibi-Consolidated two weeks ago. Canada's Boreal Forest stretches across the north of the country, from Newfoundland to the Yukon. It represents a quarter of the world's remaining intact ancient forests and stores 47.5 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils and trees. Ontario and Quebec's intact Boreal Forest represent 14% and 18%, respectively, of the entire country's intact forest areas.
The demands of the Logging Companies are to:
o Cease logging in all intact forest areas, caribou habitat, and mapped endangered forests immediately, and work with governments and nongovernmental organizations to formally protect these areas;
o Shift to FSC certification across all tenures to ensure environmentally and socially responsible management of these forested areas, and ensure all products are FSC-certified;
o Commit publicly to not pursue licensing and new logging activities in currently unallocated areas of the Boreal Forest; and
o Refrain from logging without the prior and informed consent of First Nations whose territories are affected.