The report, entitled "Through the Trees, the Truth behind
Logging in Canada", and the map show that:
* Since 1975, logging companies have cut 25-million hectares of
forest, an area greater than that of the United Kingdom;
* The amount of land clearcut has increased by 40% in the last
28 years, posing a significant threat to many animals and
birds;
* 431 species are listed as at risk on Canada's federal
endangered species' list, in addition to those listed
provincially;
* Few of Canada's logging operations are certified as
environmentally or socially sustainable; and
* B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest is the world's largest intact
temperate rainforest and provides an example of how moratoria can
be established that can lead to a science-based process to decide
appropriate levels of protection.
Approximately 80 % of the world's original forests are already
destroyed or degraded: Canada's Boreal forests represent almost a
quarter of what's left.
"On the eve of the UN-sponsored World Forestry Congress in
Quebec City, Canada has an incredible opportunity to provide global
leadership in reversing the trend of forest destruction by setting
aside the most endangered areas of boreal forest that remain, in a
system of large and connected protected areas," said Greenpeace
campaigner Richard Brooks.
Canada's Boreal forest is home to timber wolves, the endangered
woodland caribou, wolverines, and 60 per cent of Canada's
songbirds. Large-scale industrial development from oil and gas
exploration, hydro-power expansion, mining and logging poses a
threat to the survival of many Canadian wildlife species and to the
many indigenous peoples living in the Boreal.
"U.S. and Canadian consumers care where their paper and wood
comes from. Our over 1-million members and supporters do not want
to see a global treasure like the Boreal lost so that companies can
make toilet paper from old-growth trees," said Susan
Casey-Lefkowitz, NRDC senior attorney.
"If Canada fails to identify and protect its Endangered Forests,
customers in the US and elsewhere have no certainty that the wood
and paper products they purchase are not contributing to the
destruction of the Boreal and other Endangered Forest regions,"
added Tzeporah Berman of ForestEthics.
The report and map chronicle Canada's poor forest policy and
practices but also highlight potential conservation opportunities
in the Boreal forest, building upon conservation efforts such as
those in BC's Great Bear Rainforest, where 1-million hectares of
endangered forests are off-limits to logging while conservation
planning takes place. Still, the Canadian government has yet to
contribute funds to support the protection of the Great Bear
Rainforest, despite the likelihood that its support would enable
protection of this endangered ecosystem and provide a catalyst for
successful conservation economies for First Nations.