Boreal Forests

Learn more about Boreal forests and why it’s important to protect them. Key points to learn about Boreal forests are:

• They host numerous endangered species such as the wolverine, the grizzly bear, the whooping crane, and the woodland caribou. The Government of Canada maintains a site with updated boreal forest research.
• They hold 1,140 billion tons of carbon in soil and biomass, 50 percent more than what is in the atmosphere.
• They are home to hundreds of First Nations communities, including the First Nations of the Waswanipi Cree, the Moose Cree, the Atikamekw, and the Łutsel K’e Dene. Over seventy Indigenous communities have launched Indigenous Guardians programs to help manage the Boreal forests. Their work encompasses a wide variety of projects, including reforestation, wildlife conservation, ecotourism, and the creation of national parks.
• Industrial activities such as oil and gas extraction, mining, and logging are posing long-term implications on the future health of Boreal forests. The footprint of natural resource extraction industries in the Boreal encompasses an area of over 180 million acres.
• The “tree-to-toilet” pipeline is a term used to describe luxury toilet paper production, such as the kind carried out by Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clarke, and Georgia-Pacific. These companies rely on virgin fiber to produce their paper, claiming more than a million acres of virgin Boreal forest every year.
• Some toilet paper producers defend themselves by arguing they “cut one and plant one.” However, the old-growth trees being cut contain greater amounts of carbon than newly planted trees will capture in forty years.
• You can also take online courses such as the Boreal Forest and Wildlife Management Course or Tundra & Boreal Forest to learn more about Boreal forests and how to manage them.
• Climate change is warming Canada's boreal forest, bringing greater risk of fire and disease, turning some of it into prairie, and shifting it northward toward the Arctic.

Prevent further oil and mining projects. Alongside industrial logging, oil and mining activities are among the most damaging to the Boreal forests. There are several actions you can take to help stop the expansion of the tar sands and open-pit mining projects:

• Sign the petition to Stop Open-Pit Mining from happening around the Canadian Rockies.
• Donate to MiningWatch Canada, an organization aiming to change the laws and policies that enable destructive mining practices.
• Sovereign Indigenous nations have joined forces to develop a Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. You can help them uphold the treaty by getting involved or contacting the alliance.
• Heavily engaged in protecting Boreal forests, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has called on the Biden administration to take bold action for our environment. Learn more about NRDC’s campaign.

Purchase toilet paper made from recycled content or alternative fibers like bamboo. You can also consider switching to a bidet to reduce your toilet paper consumption. NRDC’s Toilet Paper Sustainability Scorecard is a good guide to which brands to purchase and which to avoid. Standout brands to avoid include:

• Kimberly-Clark: Cottonelle Ultra ComfortCare, Scott 1000, and Scott ComfortPlus
• Procter & Gamble: Charmin Ultra toilet paper
• Georgia-Pacific: Angel Soft toilet paper and facial tissue, Quilted Northern toilet paper

Use reusable cloth instead of paper towels. Many, if not all, functions of a paper towel can be replaced by a washable cloth, saving paper and likely some virgin tree fiber. If recycling an old t-shirt isn't viable, you can try out some reusable paper towels instead. 

Reduce paper mail, bags, and boxes. The rise of online shopping has resulted in companies individually packaging purchases that would otherwise leave brick-and-mortar shops in bags. In 2018 alone, e-commerce generated 1.3 million tons of containerboard in North America, two-thirds of which is made from virgin pulp. DS Smith, the UK’s largest cardboard box manufacturer and supplier (including Amazon), produced 17 billion boxes in 2020. Most forms of paper mail, like catalogs, are outdated and extraneous. You can make some simple lifestyle shifts to digitize basic communications and reduce paper packaging:

• Stop buying paper shopping bags. Bring your own bag instead.
• Reduce online purchases that arrive in excessive packaging.
• Avoid unnecessary printing.
• Remove your name from mailing lists by visiting DMAchoice. You can also stop credit-card promotional mailings by calling 1-888-567-8688 or visiting OutOutPrescreen.com.
• Sign up for a service that sends merchants your catalog opt-out request on your behalf, such as this one provided by Catalog Choice.

Support Indigenous rights. The Boreal forests are home to hundreds of Indigenous communities. Industrial activities such as oil and gas extraction, mining, and logging are posing the greatest threat to the environment and wildlife these communities depend on and are done mostly without their consent or participation. The promotion of Indigenous voices is critical to the preservation of Boreal forests, as Indigenous communities have developed a regenerative relationship with their land over thousands of years. You can support Indigenous rights by:

• Reading and supporting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• Reading the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
• Volunteering or donating to Reconciliation Canada, an Indigenous-led organization working toward the revitalization of relationships between Canadians and Indigenous communities.
• Becoming a member of the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership, an organization of Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals working collaboratively toward conservation models rooted in Indigenous governance, knowledge systems, and law.

Participate in ecotourism and travel to Boreal forest destinations. Ecotourism takes visitors to natural environments with the goal of supporting local conservation efforts, observing wildlife, and boosting the local economy. In Boreal forests, ecotourism provides an economical alternative to the destruction of the forest, proving more profitable per hectare than those cleared for logging operations. To ensure forests are left undisturbed by industrial activity, it is critical that governments see the economic benefits of ecotourism. Choices include:

• Sundogs Excursions (Canada)
• Wild Taiga (Finland)
• North River Kayak Tours (Canada)
• Port Hawkesbury Community Trail (Canada)
• Cape Breton Highlands National Park (Canada)
• Eskasoni Cultural Journeys (Canada)

Take a forest restoration course. Forest restoration can generate various benefits, such as increasing climate resilience, improving water and air quality, restoring wildlife habitats, and creating jobs for local communities. You can learn the different forest restoration techniques through the following courses:

• The certification program at the University of Minnesota offers training to undertake the most common kinds of forest restoration projects.
• The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) offers a certification program for Practitioners-in-Training and experienced professionals. SER also has a Restoration Resource Center that has publications, recorded presentations, and a directory of local experts and companies that specialize in restoration.

Volunteer with a local restoration organization. Volunteering as part of a forest restoration project can be great fun and will help you support conservation efforts in the Boreal. Some of the most notable initiatives in Canada include:

• Boreal Conservation Project offers a Citizen Science Program available all across Canada. Choose your region to join the program.
• Duck Unlimited Canada offers a volunteering program to conserve water, wetlands, and wildlife in Canada’s Boreal. Join their program or donate to the DUC.
• David Suzuki Foundation offers a variety of volunteer programs, such as the Future Ground Network. Alternatively, you can sign their petitions to protect endangered species in Canada’s Boreal, such as the Caribou, here.

Commit to using recycled paper. The traditional publishing supply chain is an enormous consumer of paper and virgin pulp. However, recent figures suggest that only about 60 percent of publishers have a formal environmental policy in place or are in the midst of completing one..

Stop using paper made from virgin tree materials. Use instead other raw ingredients or materials to create alternative paper products, such as post-consumer waste, kenaf, or bamboo.

Ask to be printed on recycled paper. Several authors are including a recycled paper clause in their contracts with publishers. Speak with your publisher about printing exclusively on post-consumer recycled papers that do not contain virgin fibers.

Source certified softwood lumber for buildings. Although mass timber is emerging as a viable alternative to concrete and steel buildings, the lumber must be sourced responsibly. Currently, softwood lumber makes up 20 percent of Canada’s forest product exports. Companies using such wood in the construction sector need to ensure that the wood is logged sustainably and certified as such. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is one organization that provides certification of timber products.

Eliminate deforestation from your supply chain. The use of virgin tree materials in supply chains is among the root causes of deforestation and biodiversity loss. The following initiatives and organizations can help you vet your supply chain for deforestation:

• Canopy is a nonprofit organization helping companies ensure their paper and other products are not produced by logging carbon-rich forests. You can donate or contact them.
• The Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) developed a framework that provides unified guidance on how to implement credible supply-chain commitments. Learn how to apply the framework to your supply chain.
• The Consumer Goods Forum is among the largest global industry networks developing new paths to eliminate deforestation from supply chains. Some of their corporate policies include: no clearing on carbon-rich peat lands; no use of fires for clearing; no clearing on high conservation value (HCV) areas; no clearing on high carbon stock (HCS) areas; respect for Indigenous land rights; obtaining free, prior, and informed consent from local communities before adopting and implementing measures that may affect them; production only on legal lands; no use of forced or slave labor; and a commitment to transparency regarding a company’s production practices. Become a member of their global network. 
• Deforestation Free Funds is a database for investment funds ranked by sustainability (a project of Friends of the Earth).
• Ceres is a nonprofit that works with the business community, provides an investors’ guide to deforestation and climate change.
• Profundo is an NGO that analyzes commodity chains, the financial sector, and the impacts of businesses on sustainability, from human rights to deforestation and climate change, and advises clients.

Halt expansion and development of new oil sands. In 2021, the International Energy Agency stated clearly that no new expansion of fossil fuel fields or construction of coal-fired power stations can take place if the world is to stay on target for net-zero emissions by 2050. To ensure a regenerative future and uphold Indigenous land rights, companies must stop strip-mining and drilling tar sand deposits and prevent the building of any further infrastructure, such as pipelines, terminals, and power plants that require further extraction.

Get consent from Indigenous groups and First Nations. Consulting Indigenous peoples prior to the start of a project is critical to the ongoing health of the Boreal and respecting Indigenous rights to self-determination. Secure free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous peoples before operating on their lands. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also offers an online course on how to carefully consider and engage with local communities while developing a project.

Include natural capital and ecosystem services in business plans. An economic case for land protection and restoration can be made based on the value of nature and the ecosystem service it provides.

• ReGen’s regenerative investment model provides a scalable, open-source framework that protects and restores natural capital at scale.
• Global Canopy is a market-based initiative to provide financial institutions and corporations with data on environmental opportunities.

Inside One Couple’s Quest to Protect Canada’s Boreal Forest by Pew (6 mins.)

Nature’s Ticking Time Bomb? by CNN

Edéhzhíe | Indigenous Protected Area Profiles by Boreal Conservation (2 mins.)

Bring Back the Boreal: A Story about Cape Breton Highlands National Park by Parks Canada (3 mins.)

DU Conserve: The Boreal Forest by Ducks Unlimited (10 mins.)

How BIG Is Canada's Boreal Forest? by Boreal Conservation (1 min.)

How the Boreal Forest Can Help Rescue the Planet by Boreal Conservation (3 mins.)

Tribal Parks and Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas by The David Suzuki Foundation (3 mins.)

America—and the Planet—Doesn’t Need This Dirty Oil by NRDC (2 mins.)

First Nations and the Ring of Fire by CBC News (13 mins.)

"The Issue with Tissue 2.0" by Shelley Vinyard / NRDC

Canadian Boreal Forest Conservation Framework by Boreal Leadership Council

Deforestation in Canada: Key Myths and Facts by Government of Canada

How Can We Protect Critical Caribou Habitat and Support Forestry Jobs in Ontario? by The David Suzuki Foundation and Partners

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