An aerial view of boreal forest in the Kenogami region of Ontario.
This is a victory for Greenpeace, for many other environmental groups and for the courageous campaigns of First Nations communities. Groups across the province and around the world have campaigned hard to convince the Ontario government to protect more of the province's precious forests. But our work isn't over yet.
The promise by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty represents the single largest conservation commitment in Canadian history. If followed through, it will eventually create an interconnected network of protected areas across the far north, the area north of the 51st parallel, very roughly north of a line drawn east and west through Hearst. The protected area would cover an area almost the size of the United Kingdom.
The promise is a bold first step. However, much more work needs to be done to ensure that forests are protected in Ontario. That's why Greenpeace will remain vigilant to ensure that the promise for the far north is fully and properly implemented, and to ensure that progress is made protecting intact areas of the southern Boreal Forest in Ontario where logging, especially clearcut logging, continues.
The southern Boreal forest remains under intensive and urgent threats from logging and road building. Greenpeace has documented these threats in two recent reports: Turning Up the Heat: Global Warming and the Degradation of Canada's Boreal Forest and Cut and Run: Kimberly-Clark's legacy of environmental devastation and social conflict in the Kenogami Forest.
Negative impacts on the southern Boreal Forest continue. Major companies such as AbitibiBowater and Kruger continue to clearcut the southern Boreal, and companies like Kimberly-Clark and others continue to buy the fibre they produce to make toilet paper, facial tissue, newspapers, magazines and books, and lumber products for the Canadian and international markets.
The Turning Up the Heat report in particular shows the compelling need to protect major expanses of intact areas of the southern Boreal from development to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to save wildlife species, such as woodland caribou.
Greenpeace, along with many other important voices, will continue the campaign to convince Ontario and Quebec to protect more of the Boreal Forest.
Ontario's landmark announcement to protect half the northern Boreal Forest is in line with recommendations 1,500 international scientists, including some of the world's most notable ecologists, climatologists, and conservation biologists, made to the Canadian government in May 2007. They called on Ottawa to protect half the country's Boreal Forest in large, interconnected protected areas to guard against climate change and protect internationally significant wildlife populations.
As part of its promise, Ontario will also undertake a process to create a land use plan for mining, forestry, and other development in the areas not protected. This process may take 10 to15 years. Ontario has committed to a moratorium on all new development in the far north as part of the land use planning process.
Ontario has also made an important commitment to work with First Nations to ensure their consent before any industrial projects go forward and to ensure they share in the benefits of resource development.
The requirement to consult early and to accommodate local Aboriginal communities under the Government of Ontario's Far North Planning initiative is of major significance. It will help ensure that First Nations will be fully involved in resource development in their traditional territory.
In addition, the Ontario government has committed to revising the Mining Act which currently is heavily biased towards the mining industry. It gives mining companies the right of entry and access on virtually all lands; private, public, and First Nations.
Questions and Answers about theOntario Boreal Announcement
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1. Is this a good announcement?
Yes. This announcement is an important victory. If followed through with, it will eventually protect more than 50 per cent of the Boreal region in the far north from large scale industrial development such as logging, hydroelectric development and mines.
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2. Does this mean that 50 per cent of all the Boreal Forest will be protected?
Unfortunately, no. The Boreal Forest extends from the Yukon to Newfoundland and Labrador. A substantial portion of the Boreal Forest cuts through Northern Ontario. Ontario's announcement is important in the Far North of the province, also referred to as "North of the Undertaking" or the area of forest that is not licensed to logging companies; it does not deal with the need to protect critical intact areas of the southern Boreal forest in Ontario where logging companies continue clearcut massive areas of forest.
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3. Will Greenpeace continue its campaign to protect the Boreal Forest?
Yes. Greenpeace will continue to work on two fronts to protect the Boreal Forest.
We will work to make sure that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's promise to protect the far north is fully and properly implemented. The announcement demonstrates that the collective pressure of First Nations and environmental organizations has a large impact, and we will continue to use that pressure to ensure the best possible outcomes.
We will also continue to campaign to protect critical areas of the forest not covered by this announcement--the southern Boreal in Ontario and the Boreal Forest in Quebec, both of which remain under immediate threat.
The southern area of Ontario's Boreal is quickly being fragmented by logging and roads, but is not included within the framework of this announcement. This remains a pressing issue, because the southern Boreal comprises some of the most biologically rich areas of the forest.
Though the protection announced by Dalton McGuinty is a good first step, we will continue to press his government to show leadership on the immediate need to protect the southern part of Ontario's Boreal Forest, while continuing to reach out to customers of forest products coming from the Boreal Forest. Our goal is to ensure that the remaining intact areas and caribou habitat, currently threatened by logging, are deferred with the most ecologically significant areas put into permanent protection.
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4. Is this 50 per cent protected right away? Where are the new protected areas?
No. This area is not protected right away. The Ontario government says that land use planning in the far north will include deciding how and where resource exploitation is to take place, and deciding what 50 per cent of the land base will be protected. The land use planning process is long and will take 10-15 years to complete. While the planning is occurring, no new development will be allowed.
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5. What does this mean for the important role the Boreal Forest plays in fighting climate change?
If properly implemented, the protected areas announced by Premier McGuinty can help to mitigate the impacts of climate change on the forest. Contiguous, intact areas both help the forest to continue storing massive amounts of carbon, and give species a greater chance of adapting and surviving in a warming climate.
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6. How big an area is slated for protection?
This area is enormous. 21.5 per cent of Ontario's entire area or 225,000 square kilometers. This is 30 times the size of the Greater Toronto Area, almost the size of the United Kingdom (UK).