The Great Boreal Forest Debate

With the largest intact forest ecosystem left on Earth, Canada’s boreal region contains one-quarter of the world’s remaining original forests. In December a coalition of four environmental organizations, three pulp companies, three First Nations, and one oil and gas company announced their shared goal for a Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI). 

The goal is a network of protected areas encompassing 50% of the 530 million hectares of “boreal region,” which includes the Boreal Forest, the Aspen Parkland and the Taiga.The other main goal is “support of sustainable communities, world-leading ecosystem-based resource management practices and state-of-the-art stewardship practices in the remaining landscape.”

 Cathy Wilkinson, Director of the CBI, said the Initiative was an unique opportunity, “There is an urgent need for a holistic approach towards boreal conservation because land use and resource-management decisions in every province and territory will determine the fate of much of the region within the next three to five years.” The CBI hopes to “create opportunities for governments to become engaged and active participants.” 

For the first time, this kind of extra-governmental deal between large environmental organizations and industry was questioned by some prominent voices. David Suzuki was quoted in the Whitehorse Star (Dec. 12, 2003) as saying that the Suzuki Foundation had distanced itself from the proposal, due to concerns about lack of definition: “Where is the 50% going to be? What is going to be done with the other 50%? What kind of logging practices are you going to have? Are you just going to cream it, which is what I think will happen?” 

Respected Liberal MP Charles Caccia, head of the Commons Environment Committee, questioned the legitimacy “of a framework produced by people who have no public mandate nor public accountability.” He also denounced the accord as inappropriate in light of Canada’s Kyoto commitments and inadequate in its conservation goals: “…The main actors behind this framework are Alberta Pacific with a majority ownership by Mitsubichi Paper, Domtar, Tembec and Suncor and these are all forest multinationals and accountable to their shareholders.” 

The forest companies involved hold current tenure to about 31 million hectares of boreal forest. About half of the boreal region of the CBI is forested, and half of that (approximately 125 million h.) already in tenures. 

Lawrence Solomon of Energy Probe, writing in the National Post, charged, “Four environmental groups and four resource companies yesterday endorsed the giveaway of half of Canada’s great boreal forests to industrial interests.” Solomon said the initiative guaranteed that boreal lands, unprofitable to access under market conditions, would now be opened to industrial development with government subsidies. 

Tim Gray of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, among other conservationists, responded that the time to act was while there were intact ecosystems to save: “Canada’s boreal forest has high commercial value and that is why rates of exploitation for logging, mining, hydro, and oil and gas continue to accelerate.” 

ForestEthics’ Berman says the CBI is a “vision piece” to stimulate dialogue and allow access to the mapping information only the companies have. 

The Canadian Boreal Initiative was initiated by the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2003 with a grant of $4.5 million.

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Framework Commitments The partners of the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework are committed to supporting the Framework through a range of both individual and collaborative actions. These actions include but are not limited to support for and participation in: 

• scientific and traditional ecological knowledge research 

• land use planning 

• protected areas designations 

• innovative policy development supporting Framework principles 

• economic incentives for sustainability in the boreal region 

Boreal Leadership Council Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the Deh Cho First Nations, Domtar Inc., Ducks Unlimited Canada, Forest Ethics, the Innu Nation, Poplar River First Nation, Suncor Energy Inc., Tembec Inc. and the World Wildlife Fund Canada. 

From the Text “For example, in several provincial commercial boreal forests, initiatives have already been launched to ensure requisite protection, which has been scientifically established at levels below 50%, while in areas of the frontier forest, more than 50% may be needed.” —Summary, Canadian Boreal Initiative 

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[From WS January/February 2004]

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