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Scientists Urge Canada to Protect Its Northern Rainforests as Climate Change Insurance

Nov 18 2010/in News Coverage

Vancouver – A new book released this week highlights the urgent need to protect Canada’s more than 20 million hectares of pristine temperate and boreal rainforests. Found in British Columbia, Newfoundland, Quebec, and New Brunswick, these globally important rainforests absorb and store vast amounts of carbon. Scientists argue that protecting these rainforests is a critical insurance against climate change and are calling on the Canadian government to take this message to the upcoming global conference on climate change.

The announcement comes as the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), of which Canada is a member, prepare for the sixteenth conference on climate change in Cancun, Mexico (https://unfccc.int/2860.php), following up on last year’s global summit in Copenhagen. Deforestation contributes more than the entire global transportation system in release of dangerous greenhouse pollutants.[1] Though governments are working on ways to reduce these emissions through a United Nations collaborative program[2] (called REDD plus), the program is aimed only at deforestation in developing countries and does not include temperate and boreal rainforests that are the world’s forgotten rainforests due to ongoing logging. The United Nations also has declared 2011 “International Year of Forests,” calling on nations to celebrate forests and open dialogue on how to sustainably manage them[3].

The appeal to government representatives at the climate change summit is part of a new book edited and co-authored by Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist of the U.S. based Geos Institute (www.geosinstitute.org) titled “Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World: Ecology and Conservation”(for press access to the book: https://bit.ly/cU5mY9). According to DellaSala, “Canada’s rainforests cleanse the air, purify drinking water, provide unparalleled hunting and fishing opportunities, and store vast amounts of carbon in giant trees, dense foliage, and productive soils. When these rainforests are cut down, much of their carbon is released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide where it contributes to dangerous global warming. We have to stop treating these rainforests as if they stop at international boundaries and begin working together on our shared conservation interest.”

Canada’s rainforests include such notable places as the Great Bear, Haida Gwaii, and Clayoquot Sound as well as less well known rainforests along the windward slopes of the Columbia and Canadian Rockies and in Eastern Canada. DellaSala was part of a team of scientists that put together the rainforest book including two chapters on Canada’s rainforests. The book includes a global appeal to decision makers from rainforest scientists to conserve rainforests throughout the world as part of global discussions underway to limit deforestation.

Paul Paquet, Raincoast Conservation Foundation’s Senior Scientist, and one of the book co-authors, stated “”British Columbia contains approximately 25 per cent of the planet’s remaining primary temperate rainforest. Given the diminished and impoverished state of temperate rainforest globally, the importance of protecting what remains in BC must be elevated. Only limited protection now exists for BC’s coastal rainforest, with most of the irreplaceable highly productive and biodiverse old growth already having been liquidated. Consequently, from an ecological perspective a substantial portion of what remains needs full protection to compensate for what has been permanently damaged.”

Canada’s majestic rainforests have always been a core part of our history and culture, protecting them may also be one of our best bets for the ensuring a safe and healthy future,” said Faisal Moola, co-author of the book and Director of Science at the David Suzuki Foundation. “Keeping the carbon in the rainforest is better for the climate, better for nature, and ultimately better for our own wellbeing.”

While much international attention has been focused on BC, Canada also has lesser known rainforests in the east. “New Brunswick’s rainforests have been a prime target for conversion to tree plantations because of their productive soils and the high volume of wood they can yield, said David Coon, Executive Director of Conseil de Conservation. “We need to transform our relationship with the forest and embrace an ecological consciousness. Our future depends on it.”

See a summary of the book at:

https://www.geosinstitute.org/images/stories/pdfs/RainforestSummaryfinal11-17-10.pdf

Avatar Grove: Don’t Miss It

Nov 16 2010/in News Coverage

Many of you will have seen James Cameron’s movie, Avatar. It’s set in the distant world of Pandora, where industrialization threatens both the indigenous people and the planet’s environment.

Some of you may have heard that we have our own ‘Avatar Grove’ on southern Vancouver Island. Located just 15 minutes from Port Renfrew, the Grove is a magnificent place populated with oldgrowth red cedars including ‘Canada’s Gnarliest Tree,’ a giant tree with a 12 foot wide, contorted burl.

I recently took a trip to Port Renfrew to see the trees for myself. Ken Wu and TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance gave myself, Mike Hicks, the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area director, and Jon Cash of the Port Renfrew Chamber of Commerce a tour of Avatar Grove and a nearby clearcut littered with giant stumps. The contrast was striking.

I believe there is more value in oldgrowth forests standing up than there is lying on the ground. They sustain species at risk, assist in our attempt to fight climate change, and encourage opportunities for education and eco-tourism. Rather than logging this area, providing a few months of short-term employment, I would rather we develop a plan to get more value from our oldgrowth forests.

Forest-dependent communities, First Nations and local government need to know the province’s land base can still provide jobs. But what is missing is the provincial government’s plan to make it happen.

Long-term, stable jobs can be created on the land base. Let’s focus on better managing our second growth forests. Developing value added industry by providing log owners opportunities for sales here on Vancouver Island.

Much of our productive lands on Vancouver Island have already been logged so it’s obvious that the future of forestry is in sustainable second-growth harvesting. Sawmills need to be re-tooled to deal with second-growth timber. Updating the mills will keep workers in the forest and support our local economies.

Our second growth forests can and should provide local employment not just in the woods but through remanufacturing wood locally. Our region was built on forestry and I believe we can be sustained by local value added manufacturing.

Eco-tourism is crucial to this plan. Encouraging travelers from across the globe to visit our region, stay in hotels, eat in local restaurants, shop at local stores – the economic benefits are obvious. And we get to share with the world what we already know, that the beauty and the majesty of Vancouver Island is unmatched and that we will do all we can to preserve it.

I’d encourage you to visit Avatar Grove. To take it all in before, sadly, it may be too late.

Log exports a thorn in the side of communities

Nov 14 2010/in News Coverage

While some business owners argue that raw log exports keep lumber companies solvent while they wait for the industry to turn around, others point out that tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the lumber industry and raw log exports discourage creating new ones.

I have long opposed raw log exports. I’ve heard from too many people who lost their jobs and have seen strong companies like Madill shut down because our local lumber industry was in decline.

Now that the industry seems to be on an uptick with the Western Forest Products mill in Ladysmith starting up again, we still need a national forest strategy to keep the industry healthy and sustainable.

New Democrats have some solid ideas on what a strategy should include. We know that offering one-off programs like the green transformation fund can help immediate problems but we need other cost effective and efficient policies working together to support a long-term revitalization of the forestry sector.

A value-added tax credit program that escalates along with the level of local production would encourage job creation in forestry towns. Companies that ship raw logs would not qualify for this credit but others that use raw logs locally to produce paper, or veneer or other lumber products would.

Loan guarantees for large and small operations with significant business in the forestry sector is another important strategy to improve the industry. Guarantees give banks assurances that they will be paid back and helps release credit into the marketplace.

It is a strange situation that while consumers can access record-low mortgage rates right now, small and medium-sized businesses have had trouble getting credit.

With loan guarantees, lumber companies can re-tool and modernize their operations while maintaining their payroll.

None of these will work without concerted effort to reduce or eliminate the effect of unfair US subsidies for American mills. Providing a similar level of subsidy to Canadian mills could cost between $2 and $5 billion — but that isn’t what stakeholders here want. They want to compete on a level playing field.

So it is up to the federal government to negotiate with the Americans to ensure unfair subsidies are not propping up mills there.

That includes companies here deciding to export raw logs to their American operations to keep them profitable while Canadian mills close for lack of fibre.

Jean Crowder is the NDP Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Cowichan.