Canadian Forestry is Important to Our Collective Fight Against Climate Change

  |  
October 29, 2018

The U.S. based Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) latest video on climate change and carbon emissions ignores the facts about what’s actually happening in Canada’s forests and how our forests and Canadian forest management are fighting climate change.

NRDC’s video starts in a boreal bog, correctly identifying areas like bogs and peatlands that help us store and sequester carbon. What NRDC overlooks is that in our carefully developed forest management plans, we consider such areas in our mapping and rarely harvest in them.

The single biggest false claim in the piece, however, is when NRDC insists that Canadian forestry activity contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. That’s just not so. In fact, in the government’s latest State of the Forests Report 2018, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) shares that Canada’s managed forests actually removed more than 20 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere in 2016 and continues to be an ongoing carbon sink. That’s the complete opposite of what NRDC is pushing on the public.[1]

NRDC’s video is full of other omissions and distortions about the on-the-ground reality of Canadian forest practices. The video misleadingly implies that harvesting is widespread, but only 0.2% of the boreal forest is harvested each year according to NRCan.[2] Canada’s strict forest management laws require that all plans are developed with local community input and 100% of harvested forests be promptly regenerated. As such, harvesting is not deforestation, which is the permanent clearing of forest to make way for non-forest land use. Canada has one of the lowest deforestation rates in the world at less than 0.01%.[3]

In Canada, sustainable forest management creates new, healthy habitat for wildlife that can capture carbon dioxide. Most provinces use an approach called Ecosystem Based Management to reduce the gap between natural processes and management practices.[4] In this process, harvesting is quickly followed by regeneration (either by planting, seeding or natural processes) that kick-starts forests into a different stage of growth, with its own set of biodiversity.

This approach results in the long term in greater carbon storage than not harvesting. Older forests are more vulnerable to being destroyed by natural disturbances like fire and disease. Since trees in older forests grow more slowly, they are less resistant to insects and diseases. Older forests have a higher concentration of dry woody debris, which is highly combustible.[5] This threat is even greater since climate change creates an increased risk for natural disturbances. For instance, large-scale natural disturbances released 98 million tonnes of CO2 in Canada in 2016.[6] Rather than allow these areas to be permanently destroyed by natural disturbances, harvesting older trees creates the conditions necessary for rapid regeneration and the storage of additional carbon within carbon-storing forest products.

And while carbon sequestration is an important factor in curbing climate change, the Canadian forest products industry is leading the way on reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In 2016, the Canadian forest products industry pledged to remove 30 million tonnes of CO2 by the year 2030[7] and, since 1990, Canada’s pulp and paper industry have reduced GHG emissions by over 60%.[8]

What NRDC also fails to recognize in their ideal scenario is that if forest products do not come from Canada’s third-party certified and sustainably managed forests, they will come from other countries where forest management is far less regulated, further increasing the risk for actual deforestation around the world.

The people who live and work in Canada’s boreal forest care about its health and future since many Canadian communities are sustained by the plentiful, renewable natural resource in their backyards. The forest products industry is the largest employer of First Nations people, directly or indirectly employing some 12,000 First Nations people.

The forest products industry is committed to mitigating the effects of climate change through sustainable forestry, and Canadian communities deserve to know the truth about our practices.

[1] http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/39336.pdf

[2] http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/39336.pdf

[3] http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/39336.pdf

[4] https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/forests/fire-insects-disturbances/deforestation/13419

[5] http://apps.mnr.gov.on.ca/public/files/er/mnrf-16-244-discussion-paper.pdf

[6] http://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/pubwarehouse/pdfs/38871.pdf

[7] https://www.fpac.ca/forest-products-industry-launches-30-by-30-climate-change-challenge/

[8] https://www.fpac.ca/standtall/

For more information contact:
Kerry Patterson-Baker
Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs
kpatterson-baker@fpac.ca
(613) 563-1441 x 314
Follow FPAC on Twitter: @FPAC_APFC
May 8, 2023
FPAC Announces Recipients of 2023 National Forestry Innovation Awards
FPAC Announces Recipients of 2023 National Forestry Innovation Awards
Read This
April 14, 2023
Canada’s Forest Sector Welcomes Federal Emissions Report’s Focus on Worsening Fires
Following the submission of Canada’s 2023 National Inventory Report (NIR) of greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations, Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) Vice President, Indigenous Relations and Forestry, Etienne Belanger, issued the following statement
Read This
March 28, 2023
Federal Budget Recognizes Canadian Forestry Leadership and Benefits of Forest Biomass
Earlier today, Forest Products Association of Canada President and CEO, Derek Nighbor, released the following statement on the Federal Budget 2023 tabled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland
Read This
March 27, 2023
FPAC Looks Forward to Support for Canadian Forestry Workers and Communities in 2023 Federal Budget
Endorsing of a Sector Specific Approach to Accelerate Industrial Decarbonization, Recognition of forest biomass, Renewal and expansion of core sector programs
Read This
September 21, 2020
Lisa Raitt Honoured As Community Champion By Canada's Forest Products Sector
Forest Products Association of Canada recognizes former minister Lisa Raitt's leadership in the forestry sector with Forestry Community Champion award
Read This
November 13, 2019
The Search for Canada's Greenest Workforce
Canada's forest industry is a top employer and global leader in sustainability, forest management, clean technology and innovation
Read This
March 21, 2019
Standing Tall with Canada's Forest Workers on International Day of Forests
Forest Products Association of Canada celebrates forestry communities, workers and world leading forestry management for International Day of Forests
Read This
February 20, 2019
Opinion | Workforce Diversity - Canada's Forest Sector Branches Out
Forest Products Association of Canada embraces diversity and encourages women and indigenous to join the forestry workforce
Read This
August 25, 2022
Aidan Starosta: Sharing my first experiences at Resolute: FPAC 2022 Green Dream Internship Program
My name is Aidan, and I was born and raised in the Denver Metro Area of Colorado, USA. Although I lived in suburbia, I could see the Rocky Mountains from my bedroom window and got to spend a lot of time out in nature.
Read This
August 25, 2022
Aidan Starosta: Interview with Seth Kursman, VP, Corporate Communications, Sustainability, and Government Affairs: FPAC 2022 Green Dream Internship Program
An important part of working in a corporate office is networking within the company. Resolute Forest Products promotes this practice and encourages us, interns, to interact with multiple departments.
Read This
August 25, 2022
Aidan Starosta: Interview with Maria Komourdjian, Logistics Director at Resolute: FPAC 2022 Green Dream Internship Program
In my series of interviews, I decided to meet the director of Logistics, Maria Komourdjian. Maria has taken a step up within the Logistics department, while the vice president, Karen Roach, has taken a temporary relocation assignment to be the general manager of one of our mills!
Read This
August 25, 2022
Aidan Starosta: All about logistics: FPAC 2022 Green Dream Internship Program
An important part of the forestry industry is logistics. Without the logistics department, mills would not be able to create new products, as the old ones would still be taking up space on the floor.
Read This
March 29, 2022
Forestry Sees Opportunities in Emissions Reduction Plan
We will continue to work closely with the federal government on forestry solutions related to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, wildland fire mitigation plans, and national adaptation strategies.
Read This
February 11, 2022
Canada’s Forest Sector Supports National Effort to Address Wildfire Risks and Enhance Forest Resilience
FPAC is committed to being an active and engaged voice in finding solutions to address the growing risk of wildland fires in Canada.
Read This
December 23, 2021
Seeing the Opportunity in Canada’s Forests: Looking Ahead to 2022
that Canada’s forests, manufacturing facilities, forest products, and Canadian forestry know-how give our country an advantage that is the envy of most countries on the planet. Let’s use it.
Read This
November 4, 2021
Forestry – Canada’s Secret (Climate Change) Weapon
Canada’s forests and the sustainably sourced products they provide are among the most powerful weapons in Canada’s climate change arsenal as we work to reduce emissions and store more carbon in the coming years.
Read This