Greenpeace text action demands AbitibiBowater step into a green future

The Problem

As the head of the environmental and sustainability division at AbitibiBowater, Denis Leclerc advises the company about the value of intact forest areas. He is the person responsible for any measures the company takes or doesn’t take to save woodland caribou. He is the person who decides if AbitibiBowater is going to change its practices and help protect the Boreal Forest.

To date, Leclerc has chosen not to pursue a green future for AbitibiBowater.

Join our text action to urge Leclerc to take AbitibiBowater in the right direction. Help us tell Leclerc that it’s time AbitibiBowater become ‘green’ and to stop logging in intact forest areas. These are the most ecologically important areas of the forest, key to the survival of woodland caribou and for mitigating climate change.

Greenpeace’s campaign to improve AbitibiBowater

Montreal-based AbitibiBowater is Canada’s largest logging company and the world’s largest newsprint manufacturer. The company is licensed to exploit more than 24 million hectares of forested land in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia - an area larger than the state of New York.

AbitibiBowater’s logging practices rate among the worst in Canada and have a huge, negative impact on the Boreal Forest. Greenpeace has repeatedly asked AbitibiBowater’s to show leadership on forest conservation.

Greenpeace demands that AbitibiBowater:

1) Defer all logging in intact forest areas to curb climate change and protect endangered species. Less than 35 per cent of AbitibiBowater’s forest lands remain intact.

2) Get FSC Certification for all of their forest lands to ensure the Boreal Forest is managed sustainably.

Greenpeace’s history with AbitibiBowater

Since June 2003, Greenpeace has been asking AbitibiBowater to improve its logging practices and conserve remaining intact areas of its forest lands (talks began with their predecessor company, Abitibi-Consolidated).

Impasse with AbitibiBowater

Informal discussions were stopped in 2005 when it was clear the company was not taking action. In 2007, Greenpeace resumed talks with the company at the urging of large customers of AbitibiBowater and after a series of direct actions. We began a formal dialogue process and worked with a facilitator. Unfortunately, after many months of meetings the negotiations reached an impasse, and the formal dialogue was adjourned by the facilitator in August 2008.

Unwilling

The reason? AbitibiBowater is unwilling to make any significant changes to its logging practices by suspending logging in intact areas of its forest lands. These are the most ecologically important areas of the forest and key to the survival of woodland caribou. Greenpeace is now encouraging AbitibiBowater’s major customers to begin to look elsewhere for supplies of paper, pulp and lumber.

What’s an Intact Forest?

Intact Forests are endangered landscapes that need protection. Intact forests are untouched by logging operations, road building or other activities that fragment wildlife habitat and carve up valuable sections of old growth forests. Intact forests areas are valuable because they:
o allow trees, plants and wildlife a better chance of adapting, migrating and surviving in a changing climate
o are critical habitat for endangered and threatened species such as the Woodland Caribou, which need large ranges of unfragmented forest to survive
o store more carbon dioxide than fragmented forests and help slow permafrost melt, helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change
o are often designated as high conservation value forests and need special management and protection under the Forest Stewardship Council Boreal Forest standard

Intact forest areas curb climate change

See the video report of Greenpeace’s scientific publication: Turning Up the Heat : Global Warming and the Degradation of Canada's Boreal Forest

What is FSC Certification?

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, non-profit association that issues certificates for well managed forests. The FSC was formed by different organizations that represent economic, social, indigenous and environmental interests. FSC requires ecologically responsible forest management and is the only forest certification Greenpeace supports.

Greenpeace believes that actions speak louder than words. The time for AbibitiBowater to change is now.

Help us: Take Action - send a text message and tell people about this call to action!

Find out more about the Boreal Forest campaign – problems and solutions.