Canadian forests are being logged at an unsustainable rate and the country isn’t living up to its commitments to protect them, says a report by an international environmental group.
Of all the provinces, Quebec by far accounts for the largest area logged. In 1997, logging in the province made up 36 percent of the more than one million hectares of land logged across Canada.
Ontario was a distant second at 19 percent, followed by British Columbia at 17 percent.
The greatest new threat has been a move by loggers into ecologically fragile northern boreal forests, says the Washington-based World Resources Institute and Global Forest Watch.
“This is one of the great untold stories of Canada,” said Will Horter, vice-president of the newly launched Canadian chapter of Global Forest Watch.
The new group was officially launched earlier this week in Ottawa. The Grand Council of the Crees has been active in helping the new group get off the ground.
-SOURCE: The Toronto Globe and Mail
