In its A Brighter Shade of Green report, the environmental group calls on large areas of the country’s forests to be made off-limits to logging companies and other timber firms.
These areas would vary in size around the country but would effectively be used to ringfence the habitat of individual species, meaning that the forbidden zones could cover as much as 9,000km2.
This measure should be coupled with a national strategy to adapt the country’s economy to cope with a lower level of logging, with the group stating that the forest industry currently depends on “an unsustainable level of cut”.
In addition, ForestEthics has stated that protecting large areas of Canada’s forests would help rebalance the environment, with its report estimating that the country’s forested areas store up to 84.4 billion tonnes of carbon, 12 times the quantity emitted by fossil fuels every year.
“Protecting Canada’s intact forests is an essential element of a national strategy for rebalancing the carbon budget and for helping our ecosystems adapt,” said ForestEthics’ Tzeporah Berman.
In addition, scientists, non-governmental organisations and the Canadian government should work together to decide on acceptable levels of logging according to ForestEthics, with the off-limit areas taken into account when settling on a figure.
