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Overview · Forests · Publications & Maps · News Canada: News
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“The
spotted owl is a forest dependent species which is reliant upon old-growth
forests for roosting, nesting and foraging”, said Dr. Peter Hodum,
Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at California State
University-Long Beach and principal author of the report.
“The precipitous decline in the Canadian spotted owl population has
been paralleled by the fragmentation and isolation of
“The
spotted owl may not exist in
“In
the effort to save
The
report follows a British Columbia Supreme Court decision, August 29, 2002, in which conservationists challenged logging in owl
habitat. The court found that despite a clear threat to the owls, it
could not stop logging because there are no existing legal mechanisms that
forbid the destruction of endangered species habitat in Canada.
The demise of the owl is an indicator of both the
poor health of the ecosystems in which this species exists and the
unwillingness of
“With the decline of spotted owls continuing in the U.S., the conservation of all populations throughout the historical range is critical because it helps maintain the full range of genetic diversity within the subspecies. Genetic diversity is essential as it affects the potential for populations to respond over time to changing environmental conditions. Thus, B.C.’s owls may contribute unique adaptations critical to the survival of the subspecies as a whole,” said Dr. Hodum.
New Mapping Initiative Launched at World Summit
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To date, the international community has not tracked the rate and extent of ecological change in boreal forests, which comprise one-third of the world's forest area. GFW presented a draft map of intact boreal forest landscapes at the Summit to bring international attention to the condition of these globally important forests. Preliminary findings show that across the boreal, from Canada to Russia, the southern part of boreal forest has been substantially affected by industrial-scale land use. This is especially true in Norway, Sweden, Finland, European Russia and the southern provinces of Canada. Almost no large intact forests remain here.
This map is a provisional draft is geared towards soliciting wide input; an extensive independent peer review is planned for this fall. The preliminary results presented here are subject to change through the review process. To read more about this Initiative and to view the draft map, click here.
New Methodology to Assess Interim FSC Certification Applications in British Columbia
JANUARY 11, 2002 - Forest Watch of British Columbia released a Global Forest Watch Canada publication on assessing the forest management planning and practices of licensees who have applied for interim Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in British Columbia (BC), in the absence of approved FSC regional standards for BC. The publication, titled Methodology for Reporting on Assessments of FSC Interim Forest Certification Applications in BC, outlines the approach used to conduct assessments and critically review the current forest management planning and procedures of licensees who have expressed interest in FSC certification.
Ontario's Forests Jeopardized by Loose Rules
Report documents widespread problems with forestry guidelines
TORONTO, NOVEMBER 9, 2001 - Today, the Sierra Legal Defense Fund and Wildlands League, released a Global Forest Watch Canada report on the state of Ontario’s forests, titled Improving Practices, Reducing Harm. The report reveals weak provincial forest management guidelines and calls on the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to clarify several contentious standards.
Improving Practices, Reducing Harm documents numerous examples where interpretations of forestry management guidelines by logging companies have seriously jeopardized streams, rivers, and wetland areas.
The provincial government’s willingness to allow logging to occur without clear rules is shocking," said Sierra Legal's Managing Lawyer Jerry DeMarco. "The public and consumers have a right to expect that streams, forests and wildlife will be properly protected from sloppy logging operations."
The report focuses on field audits conducted in the Lower Spanish River Forest near Sudbury. The audits investigated harvesting practices for compliance with forest management plans, annual work schedules, forest management guidelines and relevant legislation.
After the initial audit, the groups returned to the Lower Spanish Forest with representatives from the forest licensee, Domtar. During that visit many of the forest operations infractions noted in the first audit were revisited and discussed with the Domtar representatives. The exercise proved to be extremely informative for both sides and revealed how standards that the groups interpret as providing clear direction, are interpreted differently by forestry companies – to the detriment of the natural environment.
"Our forests need precise rules that provide adequate protection. Any loose wording is open to abuse," states Dr. Elaine MacDonald, Sierra Legal’s Scientific Investigator.
"This report is a clear example of how practices will slip when the MNR turns its back on providing clear environmental standards with consistent strong enforcement," said Chris Henschel, Director of the Wildlands League’s Forests Program. "MNR should set clear, high standards for protection and monitoring."
Over the past five years, the groups have carried out several on-site investigations in Ontario’s forests and have collected evidence of logging-related damage. The results of these investigations have been presented in three reports:
- Cutting Around the Rules (1998)
- Grounds for Concern (2000)
- Improving Practices, Reducing Harm (2001)
All of these reports are available at www.sierralegal.org.
For further information, please contact:
- Wildlands League, Chris Henschel, Forests Program Director (416) 971-9453 ext. 30
- Sierra Legal Defense Fund, Dr. Elaine MacDonald, Scientific Investigator (416) 368-7533 ext. 27
- Sierra Legal Defense Fund, Jerry DeMarco, Managing Lawyer (416) 368-7533 ext. 29
Global Forest Watch Canada Releases French Version of Canada Report
JUNE 13, 2001 - Global Forest Watch Canada, using a unique combination of satellite imagery, geographic information systems, mapping software, the internet and on-the-ground knowledge, has released the French-version report "Canada’s Forest at a Crossroads: An Assessment in the Year 2000" and has made all of its data on Canada’s forests freely available over the internet.
The emerging picture of the state of Canada’s forests that Global Forest Watch Canada’s information is painting is not pretty.
"The threat to Canada’s boreal forest is the great untold story," said Peter Lee, National Coordinator of Global Forest Watch, "Ninety percent of the more than one million hectares logged annually in Canada still occurs in primary, frontier forests, including old growth and our environmentally sensitive northern boreal intact forests are being rapidly opened up for large-scale industrial exploitation."
Global Forest Watch Canada’s reports and information show that over one-half of Canada’s forests are managed as tenures while less than 8% are fully protected. Corporate concentration is intensifying, with about a dozen companies now operating in areas at least the size of Switzerland (41,000 km2). Logging and other industrial developments are proceeding further and further northward into areas that have severe constraints to commercial logging and these developments are affecting First Nations peoples.
Global Forest Watch Canada’s next major release of information will be detailed maps of Canada’s forests produced from satellite imagery. Funded by IKEA, Goldman and Doris Duke Foundations, these maps will paint the most detailed on-the-ground picture of Canada’s forests ever produced for almost all of Canada’s commercial forests. Datasets of information about Canada’s forest have now been freely available at www.globalforestwatch.org.
"The key to improving decisions about managing our nation’s forests is the power of information," said Peter Lee, National Coordinator for Global Forest Watch Canada, "Through future reports and maps based on satellite pictures, we will continue to improve access to a wide range of information about Canada’s forests. What Global Forest Watch does is put communities, people, activists and wood consumers together and provide them with information about what is happening to Quebec’s and Canada’s forests. Industry, governments, buyers and sellers of wood, international trade agencies, trade dispute mechanisms and most importantly, the People of the Cree, the People of Quebec, and the People of Canada will all benefit from better, accessible information."
Global Forest Watch Canada develops its Strategic Plan and its Case Statement
MARCH 21, 2001 - The Strategic Plan provides a focus for the next 3-4 years of Global Forest Watch Canada and contains project, product, and organizational goals, along with timelines and budget information. The Case Statement is a summary document of Global Forest Watch Canada, its major projects and organizational structure.
Download Strategic Plan (PDF - 54.79 KB)
Download Case Statement (PDF - 1069 KB)
GFW Canada Releases New Versions of Access and Forest Block Maps
MARCH
13, 2001 – Global
Forest Watch has produced new versions of the Access and Forest
Block Maps prepared for the report, Canada’s Forests At A
Crossroads: An Assessment in the Year 2000.
The initial analysis was based on a compilation of provincial transportation data sets. This new analysis is based on a national transportation dataset at 1: 250000, which provides a more consistent perspective in terms of the level of access. The first versions of the maps are still useful if one wants to see to what extent trails, seismic lines, and smaller roads are present in the forest areas.
Landsat 7 Satellite Imagery Available for Canada
MARCH 13, 2001 –Canada Landsat 7 ETM satellite imagery is now available for a large portion of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan as part of the Intact Mapping Project that GFW and GFW Canada are undertaking.
To date, GFW has purchased 50 satellite scenes and these are available through the Univeristy of Maryland's Global Land Cover Facility
web page.Once you are at there site, go to the data page and you will see a section titled "ETM+, TM and MSS Landsat Scenes". Scenes can be downloaded directly or purchased on CD for the cost of reproduction (approximately $25).
We will soon be purchasing another 60 scenes; these will be posted as they become available. These scenes will mostly be in Ontario and Quebec.
Draft maps of forest cover, forest disturbance, and forest intactness will be forthcoming over the next 18 months. A draft map of the Boreal Plains Ecozone will be ready by mid-May. The interior of British Columbia and the Boreal Shield will be the next regions to be mapped.
All of these maps will eventually be available as images, in our interactive map server, and through our Data Warehouse on the GFW website.
Forest Monitoring Network Goes to School
VANCOUVER – Key members of BC's forest watchdog group returned to forestry school in preparation for a transition to the market economy. Forest Watch of British Columbia recently completed an intensive 5-day workshop examining the ecological requirements for the preservation of fully functioning forests in British Columbia.
The Silva Forest Foundation and noted Canadian eco-forester, Herb Hammond, hosted the workshop June 26 – 30. Participants at the workshop included a representative of the Council of Haida Nations, a staff member of Global Forest Watch from Washington, D.C., a certification auditor, and Forest Watch of British Columbia Regional Coordinators and advanced volunteers from across the province.
The workshop examined the science of forest ecology in the context of both forest law in British Columbia and the emerging economic tool of forest certification. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme was debated and a continuing role for Forest Watch in scrutinizing FSC applications was formulated. Additionally, an eco-system auditing checklist for Forest Watch volunteers was debuted and tested, and techniques for field sampling of "non-timber" forest resources were discussed.
(?) "Forest Watch can play a critical role in ensuring that certification promotes meaningful change in forestry practices in British Columbia," said Herb Hammond. "We are at pivotal point in the development of market based mechanisms for ensuring sustainable eco-forestry and Forest Watch’s expertise in legal compliance monitoring will greatly assist those with an interest in seeing the objectives of the FSC met in British Columbia."
"An enhanced understanding of the requirements for forest eco-system functioning will greatly assist the work of the Forest Watch network," said Aran O’Carroll, Forest Watch of British Columbia Project Director. "We can be much more strategic about the focus of our monitoring and legal work given this training."
Forest Watch of British Columbia is a project of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, a national non-profit organization that provides free legal services to Canadian environmentalists.
For more information contact:
Aran O’Carroll, project director, Forest Watch of British
Columbia, (604) 685-5618
Herb Hammond, director, Silva Forest Foundation, (250) 226-7222
Monitoring Forest Certification in British Columbia
Forest Watch of British Columbia (FWBC) is currently a project of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund’s (SLDF) Forest Team (http://www.sierralegal.org/forests.html). FWBC coordinates a network of 200 volunteers who monitor forestry practices and forest development planning across British Columbia. (FWBC is a partner organization of Global Forest Watch which aims to develop a Forest Watch network on an international scale (http://www.globalforestwatch.org/). The current focus of FWBC is on the compliance of forest development practices and planning with forest law in British Columbia.
The Context of Market Campaigns
Governments are increasingly reluctant to maintain or enforce effective regulatory standards to protect environmental values. This international "race to the bottom" in environmental protection has been caused, in part, by trade and investment agreements and the faster flow of investment capital across borders. As a result, Canadian environmental and community groups have been forced to turn to alternative mechanisms to achieve protection of environmental values.
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the use of these alternative mechanisms to influence forest practices and protection of non-timber values in our forests. Market campaigns are one of the most powerful of these alternative mechanisms, and are rapidly becoming a focal point for the environmental movement. Consumers of forest products are now being provided with information on forestry that belies the story they have received over the years from industry and government. Consumers are, in turn, beginning to apply pressure to the forest industry to improve forest practices. Industry and government are beginning to take notice.
However, forest-related market campaigns are at a relatively early stage in their development. For instance, they are only now reaching the stage thatenergy efficiency and anti-pollution campaigns had reached in the 1970s. Those campaigns have developed and used eco-labelling schemes that improved the quality and reliability of information made available to the consumer. Certification is starting to fill this role in relation to forestry.
Forest Certification in British Columbia
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) (http://www.fscoax.org/) is the leading independent organization putting in place a worldwide forest certification scheme. FSC accredits independent bodies that provide certification to forestry practices based upon ecologically responsible forest use and timber management. Accredited certifiers rely upon regional standards that are to comply with 10 principles established by FSC (http://www.web.net/fscca/fsc.htm#princi). At this stage, regional standards have not yet been finalized for FSC-BC. The Silva Forest Foundation (http://www.silvafor.org/) is the only accredited Forest Stewardship Council certifier in British Columbia.
The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) (http://www.csa.ca/) also has a certification scheme in Canada. It differs from that of the FSC in that it relies on the implementation and assessment of process systems rather than the performance standards of the FSC.
Several of the major licensees in the province are currently seeking certification through either the FSC, the CSA or in many cases both. Almost all major licensees have committed to pursuing certification in the near future. The provincial government has announced it will be seeking certification for all of its small business program licensees (which collectively control a greater cut than any one licensee). Clearly, forest certification is going to proceed on a large scale in BC.
However, there are some critical uncertainties about the future shape of forest certification in BC. First, there is growing industry and government pressure on FSC-BC to adopt the least stringent standards possible. Second, once standards have been adopted, there will be a need to ensure that objective and accurate information about actual forestry planning and on-the-ground practices makes its way to the certification system.Without such information, the certifications themselves will prove misleading, and will not contribute to improved protection of non-timber values in our forests. These uncertainties need to be addressed in order to ensure that forest certification will make a difference in BC.
The Work of Forest Watch of British Columbia
FWBC is a service organization whose mandate is to monitor and report on forest practices in BC. FWBC staff have worked with a number of individuals and environmental groups, have scrutinised forestry practices, provided training, and maintained a network of volunteer Forest Watchers in regions around the province. Recently FWBC staff have undertaken assessments of the operations of forest companies seeking interim certification under the FSC.
To date, the main focus of FWBC has been to examine compliance with the Forest Practices Code. It is possible to use this information to draw inferences about the state of protection of non-timber values in BC’s forests (e.g. the Code's stream protection standards have been met, and therefore the stream is protected, to some extent). However, much stronger conclusions can be drawn about environmental protection based on compliance with certification standards, which are intended to address many of the inadequacies of existing laws and provide a higher standard of forest management.
The Silva Forest Foundation
The Silva Forest Foundation has been involved with forest certification since the early 1990's. In October 1993, SFF was a founding member of the Forest Stewardship Council at its initial meeting in Toronto. In 1994, SFF published its first set of standards for ecologically responsible forest use and timber management. These were the standards used to guide SFF’s first certification in Vernon, B.C. in 1995.
Since that time, the SFF has spent considerable time incorporating reviews and revising our standards. On March 29th, 2000, SFF announced that its accreditation as an FSC certifier was finalized. The SFF is now FSC accredited to conduct timber management and chain-of-custody certifications throughout Canada. Additionally, the SFF develops and teaches the principles of ecosystem-based planning and ecologically responsible forest use, including alternatives to conventional timber management. SFF maintains an eco-system based forestry school, "Aspa", near Salmo, B.C. where it provides much of its training.
Global Forest Watch Canada
Global Forest Watch Canada has recently published Canada’s Forests at a Crossroads: An Assessment in the Year 2000.
Among other things, the study finds that Canada’s forests are managed predominantly for timber and that harvesting rates appear to be unsustainable over the long term.
Canada is promoting sustainable forest management, but implementation has been hampered by widespread government budget cuts.
Global Forest Watch Canada is a network of regional and local environmental groups and First Nations.
Global Forest Watch Canada currently has chapters in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
Global Forest Watch Canada can be reached at gfwcanada@shaw.ca.
