A deforested area in the Boreal Forest in Northern Ontario © Greenpeace
Stretching from coast to coast, the Boreal Forest is one of the largest tracts of ancient forest in the world, encompassing more than half of Canada’s landmass. It is a diverse and awe-inspiring landscape of granite outcrops, lakes, rivers and marshes, interspersed with pine, spruce, aspen and poplar forests.
The historic Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement will lead to long-term protection of Canada’s Boreal Forest, this country’s largest ecosystem. The Boreal Forest is essential to people, animals and other diverse forest life. Containing close to 40 per cent of the entire planet’s carbon, the Boreal Forest is critical in fighting climate change. Destruction of the forest damages this valuable storehouse, releasing massive amounts of global warming carbon, and wreaks havoc in the natural habitat of many species.
The Boreal region is home to many of Canada’s iconic species, including the threatened woodland caribou. Greenpeace documented the devastating impact of industrial logging on intact forest areas and woodland caribou populations.
Logging is also impacting the Boreal Forest’s watersheds, which support lakes, rivers and bogs — and in turn sustain fish, amphibian and insect species. Eighty per cent of the Earth’s unfrozen fresh water is contained in Boreal ecosystems.
The Boreal Forest is also a source of cultural importance and sustenance for Canada’s indigenous peoples. Almost 80 per cent of Canada’s aboriginal people live in forest regions, and many depend on the wilderness, water and wildlife for their livelihood and spiritual traditions. Many non-aboriginal northern communities are also dependent on the Boreal Forest, and unsustainable logging practices, coupled with economic downturns, have resulted in increasing unemployment.The Agreement includes commitments to work with First Nations and northern communities to ensure their long-term future.
Approximately half of the Boreal Forest has been allocated or licensed to logging companies. The heaviest development is concentrated in the southern Boreal Forest, which is the most productive wildlife habitat. Over 90 per cent of the logging that takes place is clearcutting, with some cuts extending over 10,000 hectares, among the largest in the world.
The Boreal region is home to nearly all of Canada’s iconic species, including the threatened woodland caribou pictured here. © Greenpeace / J.D. Taylor
The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement will bring about a new era of forest management, overturning the old standoff where logging companies blocked efforts to protect the Boreal Forest, and environmental groups took action against them.
The Agreement, covering 72 million hectares of the Boreal in a vast sweep from coast to coast, builds on Greenpeace’s successful efforts at persuading corporate customers to purchase environmentally-responsible forest products. Our five-year Kleercut campaign called on tissue giant Kimberly-Clark to stop destroying ancient forests to make throwaway products like Kleenex. In August 2009, the company announced a landmark agreement that ensures greater protection and more sustainable management for the world’s forests, including the Boreal.
Corporations that purchase large amounts of paper products have a responsibility to protect the forest, and can have a significant impact because of their purchasing power. Greenpeace targets large companies like Xerox, using various tactics to expose their poor policies and pressure them to do better. Consumers can also help by purchasing paper and tissue that come from recycled sources and consuming products that are Forest Stewardship Council certified. Greenpeace Canada’s Shopper’s Guide to Ancient Forest Friendly Tissue Products helps consumers make decisions that are good for the forest.
Governments must also do more to protect the Boreal Forest, and Greenpeace pressures politicians for action. The Agreement includes an immediate moratorium on logging in 28 million hectares of the Boreal, virtually all the critical habitat of the threatened woodland caribou. It also includes a three-year planning period during which environmental groups and FPAC companies will indentify key areas of wilderness for long-term protection and develop world-leading practices in sustainable forest management.
To date, bureaucracies have approved logging of a forest area the size of Prince Edward Island every year. We need our politicians to guarantee more protected areas.
The Agreement is a vital part of Greenpeace’s work on solutions to reverse the continuous destruction and loss of habitat in the Boreal Forest. For all the work we do, we still need your help. Get involved and see what you can do to help protect the Boreal Forest. For more information on the Boreal, visit Resources.