Will Horter, vice president of Global Forest Watch Canada
Canada’ forests face unprecedented threats.
For example, this map shows logging leases in Canada as compared to forest productivity. Areas in orange are ecological limitations and it shows that Canada’s most fragile and slow-growing northern boreal forests are being opened up for large-scale exploitation.
50 percent of these areas have now been licensed to companies — pushing the forest frontier up towards the tundra.
The facts from Canada’s other globally significant forest are not much better.
80 percent of the temperate rainforest in BC has been licensed for logging and allowable rate of cut remain 40 percent above the governments sustainable rate.
Finally, Canada maintains the lead as the world’s biggest exporter yet 90 percent of the logging in Canada is of old-growth or primary forests (mostly through clearcutting).
Our information indicates this is unsustainable under current practices.
