Greenpeace blocks office of Quebec’s forest ministry

A successful “return to sender” operation

Greenpeace’s peaceful “return to sender” operation began early this morning when activists collected AbitibiBowater wood in the Quebec City area and then “returned it” to the ministry office building because it is responsible for forest management. They are protesting against the Quebec government’s inaction on protecting intact forests.

A law of destruction

It is the Ministry of Natural Resources that oversees the exploitation of Quebec’s forests. In the fall, this ministry is planning to approve a new forest law (Bill 57) that would allow intensive forestry in an area 150 times larger than the island of Montreal and would further support the degradation of the province’s last remaining intact forest areas and habitat of threatened woodland caribou.

Less than five per cent of the allocated forest in Quebec is actually protected from development while only 10 per cent remains intact. These intact areas store the highest levels of carbon and provide the best habitat for woodland caribou. The forest bill currently sitting on the minister’s desk would further degrade these areas.

AbitibiBowater’s wood is a product of destruction

During the action, AbitibiBowater’s wood was stamped with the message PRODUCT OF DESTRUCTION. Even though Canada’s Boreal Forest is the largest terrestrial reserve of carbon on the planet, the Quebec government has licensed over 84 per cent of Quebec’s productive forests to logging companies. AbitibiBowater is allowed to exploit up to 6.4 million cubic metres of wood from Quebec forests every year. They refused to protect intact areas and caribou habitat.