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Meter CalculationTrend in strictly protected
area for all four ecozones from 1992 to 2001.
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Context
Canada is home to 10% of the worlds forests, including one-quarter of the Earth's boreal forests. Forests cover approximately 45% of Canada's total land area. Several forest types constitute this extensive forest cover. Canada's forests play many vital ecological roles. They produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, they purify water, and they help to moderate climate, stabilize soil, and regulate water flow. Forests also provide diverse habitats for two-thirds of Canada's wildlife - and new species are continually being discovered. Forests also act as wind breaks, as snow traps, and in sediment control. They are vital to the economy, producing wood and wood products used domestically and for export, while providing jobs for thousands of Canadians. Approximately 59% of Canada's forested land is considered capable of producing timber products.
Forest management practices can profoundly affect forests, in terms of both their economic productivity and their biodiversity. Logging poses a threat to those species of flora and fauna that depend on old-growth forests or large, unbroken tracts of forest. Forests are managed for multiple benefits, such as improving timber yields; controlling fires, diseases, and insects through practices such as reseeding, tree planting, and fire suppression; and conserving forest biodiversity. Some practices can affect forest condition through soil compaction and erosion; can cause habitat destruction, fragmentation, and edge effect, which place some forest-dependent species at risk; and can alter natural cycles of insects, disease, and fire.
Indicators
Much of Canada's forest industry is located in four ecozones - the Boreal Shield, Atlantic Maritime, Pacific Maritime, and Montane Cordillera. The collective amount of strictly protected area in these ecozones increased from 5.3% in 1992 to 6.8% in 2001 and accounts for about 18% of the total strictly protected area in Canada. In these ecozones, most populations of forest bird species showed little change from 1968 to 2000.
Forest harvest levels have steadily increased over the past decade. Since 1994, more than a million hectares a year have been cut - an area almost twice the size of Prince Edward Island. Since 1990, there have been an average of over 8200 forest fires per year; in 2000, 600 000 hectares of forest were burned. Fire suppression has advantages and disadvantages. While it may protect habitat and timberproductive forests over the short term, some amount of fire is necessary for ecological processes such as nutrient recycling and the removal of forest debris. Suppressing naturally occurring forest fires from year to year increases the chances of a larger, more devastating fire at a later date. Between 1980 and 1996, consecutive years of defoliation by the spruce budworm affected a total of more than 69 million hectares of forest. In 1998 alone, insect defoliation affected 6.3 million hectares.
Regeneration of forests affected by insects and fires is usually left to natural processes. More than half of the commercially harvested land is managed for natural regeneration through some form of preparatory site treatment, and the remaining area is planted or seeded. In 1999, 372 000 hectares were planted and 24 000 hectares were seeded.
Increasing: Species increasing at a rate of 50% or more per 20 years.
Little change: Species changing at a rate less than 50% per 20 years.
Decreasing: Species decreasing at a rate of 50% or more per 20 years.
The rate of change is calculated using a period of 20 years beause this is a magnitude of change that is considered to be larger
than would be expected in a stable population.
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Actions
In 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil, Canada signed on to the - Forest Principles" (Non- Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests) and other commitments related to the sustainable management of forests. Also in 1992, Canada signed the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The National Forest Strategy was chosen to be the main vehicle to implement these commitments. Canada took the lead in bringing together international experts on the sustainable development of boreal and temperate forests, leading to the 1994 formation of the Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests, now known as the Montreal Process. The first criteria and indicators report for Canada was issued in 2000 by the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, reporting on 62 forest indicators, including 3 on ecosystem diversity and 3 on species diversity. Another agreement, the Convention on the Protection of Migratory Birds in the United States and Canada, offers protection to one segment of the forest bird population.
Linkages
Forests are linked to the issues of air quality and climate change because of their role in gas exchange and carbon cycling. Climate change is expected to alter forest composition and productivity, tree growth, wildlife habitat and range, the incidence of forest fires, conditions for competing invasive species, and cycles of disease and insect disturbance in forests. Several pollutants affect forest ecosystems. Ground-level ozone may adversely affect the metabolic systems of plants and is toxic to trees. Acid deposition disrupts biogeochemical processes and may reduce the annual accumulation of forest biomass. Nitrates and heavy metals can affect forest productivity and biodiversity, as well as polluting groundwater. Roadways fragment forest land, changing the tree species mix and interfering with animal activities such as migration. Roads also make human activities such as camping, hunting, and all-terrain vehicle use more accessible, which adds further pressure to the ecosystem. Maintaining forest biodiversity protects the economic potential of future opportunities for new non-timber products, such as foods and medicines. It also reduces the risk of insect and disease disturbances associated with limited-species stands, thus protecting the timber harvest. Maintaining large forest areas contributes to the fixation of carbon dioxide in biomass and reduces the level of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Diverse forests support social sustainability by offering aesthetic, spiritual, and recreational settings for people.
Challenges
Protecting representative forests continues to be an important goal for Canada. Developing methodologies to quantify the value of ecosystem services provided by forests is becoming increasingly important, to ensure that all forest values are equally weighted when forest development decisions are made.
Websites of interest
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