Ontario to spare boreal forests

KAREN HOWLETT

Globe and Mail Update

July 14, 2008 at 1:33 PM EDT

One half of Ontario's vast boreal forest will be permanently protected from mining and other resource development projects as part of a sweeping plan unveiled by Premier Dalton McGuinty to combat climate change.

The government will protect at least 225,000 square kilometres from development, representing one half of the boreal region in the far north and an area 1.5 times greater in size than all the Maritime provinces combined, Mr. McGuinty said Monday at a news conference. This land will be off limits to any resource projects and restricted to tourism and traditional aboriginal uses, such as hunting and fishing, he said.

"It's unspoiled and undisturbed, and if there's one thing we know for sure, it's not going to stay that way forever unless we do something,” he said.

Emerging countries such as China and India are hungry for Canada's natural resources. As a result, he added, it is imperative that the province strike the right balance between conservation and development.

Internet Links

• Ontario's boreal forests

The boundaries of the areas that will be off limits to development have not been determined, but they will form a connected network of conservation lands across the far north.

With the remaining boreal lands, the government will work with first nations and Métis communities as well as resource industries to create a plan for sustainable development, a process expected to take 10-to-15 years to complete.

The boreal region in Northern Ontario represents just over 40 per cent of the province's entire land mass. It is one of the world's largest intact ecosystems, with more than 200 sensitive species of animals, including polar bears, wolverines and caribou as well as migratory birds.

The boreal forest has remained virtually undisturbed by human activity since the glaciers retreated. The vast region is home to only 24,000 people, most of them aboriginals living in remote communities far beyond the end of Ontario's network of highways and rail lines. But as mining exploration and forestry companies go farther afield in their search for natural resource riches, pressure is growing to open up the northern wilderness.

”We need to plan for that development,” Mr. McGuinty said. ”We will only get one chance to get this right.”

Mr. McGuinty also pledged to give first nations communities a greater say in any resource development projects that take place on their traditional lands as well as a share of the riches. The province will create a new system of sharing the benefits from resource projects with these communities.

The government will also introduced legislation to reform the province's mining laws this fall, when the provincial legislature returns.

Native leaders in Ontario have been pushing the government to change the province's mining laws to better protect their interests when companies explore on their traditional lands.

Mr. McGuinty said that permanently protecting the boreal lands also helps a world wrestling with the effects of climate change, as they are a globally significant carbon sink. The region absorbs about 12.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

ForestEthics, which has been pushing for the changes for several years, applauded the announcement.

It's the ”largest conservation commitment in Canada and raises the bar for environmental protection across this country and around the world,” Gillian McEachern said in a statement.

The announcement fulfill a promise Mr. McGuinty made during the 2003 election campaign when he said he would institute ”meaningful, broad-scale land-use planning” for Ontario's boreal region before any new major development takes place.