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The Boreal Forest at Risk: A Progress Report
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Executive Summary
About Canada's boreal forest
One of the world's largest remaining intact forest ecosystems, Canada's boreal forest region covers approximately 50% of the country, stretching like a broad green ribbon from sea to sea across the country. A haven to wildlife including billions of birds and some of the world's largest remaining herds of woodland caribou, Canada's boreal is also one of the world's largest sources of fresh water, is a significant air purifier, and helps regulate the climate by storing vast amounts of carbon in its soils and vegetation. The region is also home to more than one million people, including more than 600 First Nations communities.
Canada's boreal is a global treasure. Given that much of the region remains ecologically intact, we still have a unique opportunity to conserve it. However, the pace of development is accelerating: technological advances are rendering previously non-commercial forests viable, and the search for oil, gas, minerals and hydro-electric power is moving further into once-remote territory.
The 1999 Canadian Senate report
In 1999, the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry's Subcommittee on the Boreal Forest published an extensive
analysis of the state and future of the boreal called Competing Realities: The Boreal Forest at Risk. The Subcommittee
Report contained 35 recommendations intended to ensure that Canada adopts "a natural landscape-based approach to
managing a boreal forest that is coming increasingly under siege".
At the time, Subcommittee Chair Senator Nicholas Taylor said: "The Subcommittee believes that we can and must develop strategies that can ensure the survival of our threatened boreal forest while still enhancing traditional forest use and preserving economic and industrial benefits." Senator Taylor stressed the urgency of the challenges ahead. "Because there are no quick fixes and many of the actions we must take may have a substantial transition period, the window of opportunity for preserving all of the values offered by the boreal forest is closing rapidly. We must put our words into action very soon indeed."
Progress since 1999
Research conducted for the Canadian Boreal Initiative on implementing the Senate subcommittee's recommendations shows that to date, some progress has been made a few of the areas that were identified as priorities. Governments have made efforts to extend the range of parks and protected areas in the boreal region, and to improve data collection. The forestry industry has moved forward on promoting certification of sustainable forestry practices.
However, governments have made little progress in meeting many of the Subcommittee's recommendations. Of most serious concern is that governments have taken little action in response to the Senate Subcommittee's main recommendation of creating a land-use planning process that would set the conservation of natural ecosystems as the priority in up to 80% of the boreal region (with 20% under strict protection). It is also a strong concern that little progress has been made addressing the committee's recommendations related to Aboriginal peoples.
While it is not too late to move on the Senate report's recommendations, the fate of Canada's boreal region will be determined by default if governments do not act now. In the absence of coordinated conservation planning, development discussions taking place now in virtually every province and territory will largely determine the fate of the boreal region over the next three to five years.
Recommendations
Governments should take a much more proactive role in working cooperatively among themselves, and with major boreal stakeholders including First Nations, conservation groups, industry and local communities, to develop land-use planning goals before granting further development permits on a piece-meal basis. As immediate steps, the federal, provincial and territorial governments should:
- Adopt and implement large-scale land use planning for Canada's boreal region that establishes clear goals for conservation of wildlife, vegetation and fresh water, as well as standards for sustainable development.
- Complete the network of protected areas and national parks across the country and stop issuing development permits in areas slated for protection.
- Strengthen the involvement of First Nations in land use planning and forest management that respect their long-term relationship with the land as well as treaties and rights guaranteed to them under the Canadian Constitution.
- Increase data collection and monitoring of wildlife species and natural attributes of the boreal region including land, vegetation and water, and make all data readily available to the public.
These actions will make a significant contribution to ensuring the long-term ecological integrity of this unique global resource.
Based on The Boreal Forest at Risk: A Progress Report, available June 23, 2003 at www.borealcanada.ca
About the Canadian Boreal Initiative
The Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) was established in 2003 to work with a wide range of conservation organizations, First Nations, industry and other interested parties to link science, policy and conservation activities in Canada's boreal forest. The CBI's long term vision is to safeguard the balance of nature for all time through an interconnected network of large-scale protected areas and conservation lands; state-of-the art sustainable development practices on the remainder of the landscape; and local community and First Nations engagement in land management decisions.
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