Thank you for your interest in writing about the global importance of the Boreal Forest. Listed below are factsheets, reports, articles, and other helpful tools for understanding why the Boreal Forest must be protected, and why it must be included in any successful climate change negotiations.

Background Summary >                 

-Short Powerpoint Presentation >

Factsheets and Resources >

Supporting Articles >

Maps:
Boreal Carbon Maps >         Other Boreal Maps > 

Background Summary

When the world thinks of forests and global warming, we tend to think of tropical forests. But, actually, the forests closer to home have a big role to play. North America’s northern or Boreal Forest is the world’s largest carbon storehouse. Keeping that carbon in place by protecting northern forests is an important part of the climate equation. Canadian governments deserve recognition for listening to the world’s leading climate scientists and taking big steps in the right direction.

When forests are disturbed, carbon is released. Deforestation and forest degradation are significant emission sources accounting for approximately 20% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions (as opposed to smokestack or tailpipe emissions.) This complex issue was incompletely addressed under the Kyoto Protocol. Rules to reduce forest related emissions are still being negotiated in advance of upcoming United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen. To date, the spotlight has largely been on emissions from tropical forests. Consideration of northern or Boreal Forests has lagged and received little consideration.

The Boreal Forest is an important part of the global climate picture as it stores more carbon per acre than any other forest ecosystem. The Boreal Forest “carbon bank” stores 22 percent of all carbon stored on the earth’s land surface and almost twice as much carbon per unit area as tropical forests.

Keeping this carbon in place is critical to shielding against global warming. The more we disturb the forest, the more carbon we release, exacerbating global warming.

The critical importance of protecting the Boreal Forest’s vast carbon store can not wait for the extended timelines of developing international protocol.

Fortunately, timely, important policy action is underway at the Canadian provincial level where several Premiers are listening to the world’s leading climate scientists who advise setting aside at least half of the Boreal Forest.

Circling the globe just below the Arctic region, the global Boreal Forest is the world’s largest land reservoir of carbon. Canada hosts most of North America’s Boreal Forest. Canada’s vast Boreal Forest stores an estimated 186 billion tons of carbon—the equivalent of 27 years worth of global carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. The forest stores carbon in its mosaic of trees, lakes, and peat lands.

Over 1,500 international scientists led by Nobel Prize winning authors for the United Nations’ International Panel on Climate Change have recommended that at least half of Canada's Boreal Forest be protected from any further disturbance - in large part to keep this carbon bank intact. Threats to the Boreal Forest include logging, oil and gas development, and mining.

This spring, Quebec Premier Jean Charest set aside 4.5 million acres in new parks and committed to future protection for half of Quebec’s Boreal Forest. At over 140 million additional acres, this would be a region larger than California or France.

Last summer, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty pledged to strictly protect at least 55 million acres or half of Ontario’s Boreal Forest. The Premier specifically cited the importance of permanently protecting these lands to “help a world wrestling with the effects of climate change.”

Prime Minister Harper has been instrumental in protecting at least 30 million acres of Boreal Forest in Canada's Northwest Territories. In addition to aiding in climate protection, these protections have included some of the world's largest, new national parks.

While these recent commitments to protect the Boreal Forest's vast carbon reserves are a significant contribution to guarding against climate change, there is still a ways to go to protect the 50% recommended by scientists. Only twelve percent of Canada’s 1.3 billion acre Boreal Forest is currently protected.

Further action is warranted at international, federal and provincial levels to meet this important goal in the fight against climate change.

In the meantime, Canadian governments deserve international recognition for making timely commitments to protect this far northern carbon in place and should be encouraged to pursue further protections of their boreal carbon bank.

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Factsheets and Resources

Factsheet: Canada's Boreal Forest: Shield Against Global Warming, by the International Boreal Conservation Campaign

Factsheet: The Boreal Forest: A Global Treasure Under Threat, by the International Boreal Conservation Campaign and the Boreal Songbird Initiative

Journal Article: Implications of Limiting CO2 Emissions for Land Use and Energy, in Science

Report: The Natural Fix? The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Mitigation, by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

Letter: Letter From 1,500 Scientists Recommending Half of Canada's Boreal Forest be Protected

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Supporting Articles

Need for Protection:

Scientists Plead for Protection of Forests - The Globe and Mail, 5/14/07

In Far North, Peril and Promise: Great Forests Hold Fateful Role in Climate Change - Washington Post, 2/22/07

Boreal Forests Important Carbon Repositories - Edmonton Journal, 12/7/2007

What Amount of Nature should Nations Protect? - The Globe and Mail, 11/24/08

Op-ed: The Trees that We Need - The Guardian (UK), 5/21/09

Editorial: Forests and the Planet - New York Times, 5/28/09

UN Report: Nature Best Controls Climate Gases - Washington Post, 6/5/09

Recent Conservation Successes:

Ontario Moves to Protect Boreal Forest - Montreal Gazette, 7/14/08

Op-ed: U.S. Conservation Win - In Canada - Christian Science Monitor, 9/22/08

Charest Promises to Protect North - Montreal Gazette, 11/16/08

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Carbon Maps 

The following three maps can be downloaded at once in a PDF including descriptions.
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Permafrost:

Permafrost is permanently frozen soil, sediment, or rock that remains at or below zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) for at least two years. Nearly 25% of the earth’s land surface is covered by permafrost, including about 50% of Canada’s land area. Carbon is stored under the frozen ground through a slow freeze-thaw process that progressively moves organic matter deeper into the ground where it is sealed off from decomposition by the cold temperature. 

Peatlands:

Peatlands are recognized worldwide as highly important for carbon storage. Although they cover only 3% of the world’s land area, peatlands contain almost 30% of all carbon stored on land. Peat is formed when decaying plant matter from mosses, sedges, grasses, shrubs, or trees accumulates in permanently waterlogged conditions. When left undisturbed, peatlands can effectively store the carbon sequestered in these plants for thousands of years.

Soil Organic Carbon:

Much organic carbon is found within soils, especially from the decay and break up of trees, mosses, and other plants. Globally, nearly 30% of this soil organic carbon is locked in boreal and tundra ecosystems, while in Canada, almost 90% of this carbon is estimated to occur in such ecosystems. This map of the organic carbon found in soils within a meter of the surface highlights the carbon-rich soils found throughout the Canadian Boreal.

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Other Boreal and Global Maps

Last Intact Forests of the World:

This map, from the June, 2008 issue of Canadian Geographic, displays the world's last intact forests. The lighter shade of green depicts what were once intact forests before human disturbance, and the darker shade is what is still intact (little to no disturbance). Canada's Boreal Forest clearly stands out as one of the largest remaining intact forests in the world.

The International Boreal Conservation Campaign did not produce this map and cannot grant permissions for reprint.

Size of the Boreal Forest:

This map shows the range of Canada's Boreal Forest, which stretches from Yukon to Newfoundland. Yellowstone National Park in the United States is highlighted to show the vast size of Canada's Boreal, which encompasses 1.4 billion acres in total.

Boreal Forest Disturbance - Before and After:

While much of the Boreal remains intact, large portions of the Southern Boreal Forest have been disturbed from logging, oil extraction, mining, and hydro development. Each year industry moves further and further into the heart of the Boreal, making sustainable forest management imperative to the health of the Boreal and the carbon it stores.

Maps in PDF >
Maps as JPG >

Boreal Forest 50% Commitments - Ontario and Québec:

On July 14, 2008, Ontario Premier McGuinty promised to protect 50% of Ontario's northern Boreal Forest, which equates to 55 million acres in permanent protection. On November 16 of that same year, Québec Premier Charest announced that 50% of Québec's northern Boreal Forest would be protected as well, which would make more 160 million acres off for development, roughly the size of France.

Maps in PDF >
Maps as JPG >

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