Half of Ontario's northern Boreal to be protected
July 14, 2008Historic announcement to protect area twice the size of England
Toronto -- Today CPAWS Wildlands League congratulates Premier McGuinty on his vision to protect 225,000 km2 or 22.5 million hectares of intact Boreal Forest in Ontario in an interconnected network across the Far North. The future of Ontario’s northern Boreal lands and waters will be determined through an innovative Land Use Planning initiative with First Nations. The announcement includes an important commitment to work with First Nations to ensure their consent is given before any industrial projects go forward and resource benefit sharing.
Also in the announcement is firm commitment to change the Mining Act from a ‘free entry’ system to one that respects the rights of First Nations and enshrines the duty to consult and accommodate in legislation in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling.
“This announcement sets out the most ambitious conservation agenda for the Boreal Forest in Canada,” said Janet Sumner, Executive Director of CPAWS Wildlands League. The area set aside for protection is twice the size of England.
CPAWS Wildlands League, working with other conservation groups, has been a strong voice calling on Ontario to protect its intact Boreal forest for the past five years, given its critical global ecological value as one of the world’s most important remaining stretches of wilderness. It has also been a critic of the “free entry” mining system.
“This is a visionary and unprecedented policy. Today’s announcement fulfills the Premier’s promise to protect the Boreal Forest by doing Land Use Planning before large scale industrial development. It sets out an incredible conservation agenda that will be a legacy for all our grandchildren and their grandchildren,” Ms. Sumner commented.
“The commitment to revise the Mining Act is also extremely welcome. Ontario is now taking a leadership position in Canada on this issue, leaving behind an antiquated law that has no place in our future,” adds Ms. Sumner.
In comparison to previous notable conservation area gains in Ontario, this one is unprecedented:
- Greenbelt 728,000 hectares
- Lands for Life 2,400,000 hectares
- Algonquin 763,000 hectares
“Scientists say that we need to protect more than half of the carbon-rich Boreal ecosystem in order to ensure its ecosystem services and benefits are maintained in the long term. Protection must be designed to meet the needs of wide-ranging species such as caribou, which is the indicator for overall ecosystem health, support carbon retention and sequestration and of course, protect watersheds to maintain clean air and water,” Ms. Sumner said.
The key to successful land use planning will be to work respectfully with First Nations in achieving the overarching conservation objectives and in providing business stability, the group noted.
In this part of Ontario (encompassing nearly 45% of the province), the Boreal Forest is home to billions of migrating birds, threatened species such as Woodland Caribou, Polar Bear and Lake Sturgeon. It is one of the world’s largest terrestrial carbon storehouses. Each hectare of forest holds approximately 177 tonnes of carbon while the peatlands on average hold 1,294 tonnes of carbon. There are approximately 27 million hectares of Boreal Peat Lands in Ontario.
In 2008, CPAWS and Mountain Equipment Co-op founded The Big Wild, an initiative that enables people to support the vision that Canada will keep at least half of its land and water forever wild. Add your voice at www.thebigwild.org.
-30-
For further information, please contact:
Janet Sumner, Executive Director, CPAWS Wildlands League
416.579.7370 cell
Comments | Commentaires
Note: Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of CPAWS.Très super-wicked bon!!!
Felicitations et merci.
Posted by Nicholas Graham on July 21, 2008 12:56 PMAmazing! Absolutely amazing!
Posted by Monika on July 21, 2008 8:39 PMFantastique!
Posted by Claudia on July 22, 2008 9:59 AMA good step to be certain, but there is something so inherently negative about messages like this too!
In reality this is not truly a win, it is a limited loss. A true win for the boreal forest would technically be if developed areas would be stripped down and given back to the boreal forest system to develop back into what it was with time. What happens here is that about half of the boreal forest will remain roughly as it is (if that will really prove true when development progresses remains to be seen). There is no direct win in that. What is considered to be won is the current state. At best we are cheering the further loss of only a limited forested area so that only the bare minimum (as far as it is thought to be understood) is aloowed to remain, while at worst we are cheering for the allowed development of half of the boreal forest!
Not really clear in this article is what is to become of that half not under protection. Is that more or less given up? Is that the part where the strict new rules will be applied, or are those strict rules in fact for the area that is to be protected, still allowing some development there?
It is good that some kind of awareness that this forest system is so very important leads to actions to keep at least part of it the way it is. But I would like to see that part to be all there is now.
Development in our culture is always hungry and will always seek to eat up more. It will never be content. Our whole culture depends on that hunger for development. A nation is only a good player on global scale if it keeps on developing in some way. I think that that will always prove to be insustainable.
Tribal people of past and present did not have such eternal development. Not because they were too lazy or dumb to achieve it, but because in general they were content and led fulfilling lives with the limited technology they had. That system worked. Our system doesn't. It never will. We have been trying to improve it for hundreds, no thousands of years, and all we achieve is that it gets worse. The pace of global development only speeds up. It doesn't slow down, even if this victory might suggest otherwise.
Posted by Arthur Sevestre on July 22, 2008 12:47 PMGreat job!
Posted by Sara Gomes on July 23, 2008 6:14 PMPrevious comment was exactly right to point out the politcal twist on this announcement.
Land Use Management plans are certainly nothing new.
I spent a few hours talking to natives in the Boreal forest near Wabakimi p.p. last week -they're beside themselves trying to stop Abitibi Bowater from logging thier trap line territory and ruining their livelihood.
Those other remarks about our economic system apply to our way of life but there are places that don't allow development because they want to maintain they're uniqueness-in Italy and France for ex.
we need an organization to save us from franchises;every town and city in this country is starting to look the same
Posted by Jon Laughton on July 27, 2008 11:30 AMVery Nice. I could not be happier.
However, all the work is not done. We must continue to work together to ensure the future protection of our natural heritage across all of Canada.
Posted by Rian on August 6, 2008 7:23 PMPost a comment | Ajouter un commentaire
Comments won't appear on the site immediately. Thanks for your patience!
That is fantastic. Great job on lobbying! I hope this jump-starts other governments to work with you to reach the 50% of Canada GOAL.
Posted by Ron Slavnik on July 15, 2008 7:39 PMRon